Word.ws English Dictionary

hitting someone when they are down

hitting someone when they are down is the present participle and gerund 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 hitting someone when they are down

What is hitting someone when they are down the present participle and gerund of?
Hitting someone when they are down is the present participle and gerund of hit someone when they are down.

Words near hitting someone when they are down in the dictionary

  1. hitting pay dirt
  2. hitting paydirt
  3. hitting rock bottom
  4. hitting send
  5. hitting someone for six
  6. hitting someone when they are down
  7. hitting the accelerator
  8. hitting the big time
  9. hitting the board
  10. hitting the books
  11. hitting the bottle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hitting someone when they are 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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