Word.ws English Dictionary

hit someone when they were down

hit someone when they were down is the simple past and past participle of hit someone when they are down.

Meaning of hit someone when they are down

Verb

hit someone when they are down (third-person singular simple present hits someone when they are down, present participle hitting someone when they are down, simple past and past participle hit someone when they were down)

  1. (idiomatic) Synonym of kick someone when they are down (“make things worse for someone in a difficult position”).
    • Not to hit a man when he is down is no item in Lord Stanley's code of honour;1844, The Westminster Review, number LXXXIII

Questions about hit someone when they were down

What is hit someone when they were down the simple past and past participle of?
Hit someone when they were down is the simple past and past participle of hit someone when they are down.

Words near hit someone when they were down in the dictionary

  1. hit points
  2. hit rock bottom
  3. hit send
  4. hit someone for six
  5. hit someone when they are down
  6. hit someone when they were down
  7. hit squad
  8. hit squads
  9. hit test
  10. hit tests
  11. hit the accelerator

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hit someone when they were down (page history and authors); hit someone when they are down (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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