Word.ws English Dictionary

throw gasoline on the fire

throw gasoline on the fire verb: synonym of add fuel to the fire.

Verb

throw gasoline on the fire (third-person singular simple present throws gasoline on the fire, present participle throwing gasoline on the fire, simple past threw gasoline on the fire, past participle thrown gasoline on the fire)

  1. Synonym of add fuel to the fire.
    • Ish called me, laughing. “Mike, did you know we're in a fight?” We thought it was hysterical, and even joked about actually faking a fight just to throw gasoline on the fire.2005, Andrew Kamenetzky, Fishing on the Edge: He's Not Your Father's Fisherman, Random House Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 207
    • So no, I wasn't going to stand there and throw gasoline on the fire by saying, “Ma, you're right. It looks like Danny hit Rosalia, no matter what she says.”2012, Bil Wright, Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 165

Examples of throw gasoline on the fire in a sentence

  • My presence was likely to throw gasoline on the fire, and though I considered Anderson a friend, of sorts, we weren't close enough to justify me sticking my nose into his marital difficulties.2013, Jenna Black, Rogue Descendant, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 60:
  • This is the height of racial paternalism—instead of objectively assessing the facts, the CRS was there to throw gasoline on the fire.2014, Ben Shapiro, The People Vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against the Obama ..., Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 182:

Synonyms of throw gasoline on the fire

Forms of throw gasoline on the fire

third-person singular presentthrows gasoline on the fire
present participlethrowing gasoline on the fire
pastthrew gasoline on the fire
past participlethrown gasoline on the fire

Questions about throw gasoline on the fire

What does throw gasoline on the fire mean?
Throw gasoline on the fire means synonym of add fuel to the fire.
How do you use throw gasoline on the fire in a sentence?
My presence was likely to throw gasoline on the fire, and though I considered Anderson a friend, of sorts, we weren't close enough to justify me sticking my nose into his marital difficulties.
What part of speech is throw gasoline on the fire?
Throw gasoline on the fire is a verb.
What is the past tense of throw gasoline on the fire?
The past tense of throw gasoline on the fire is threw gasoline on the fire.

Words near throw gasoline on the fire in the dictionary

  1. throw enough mud at the wall and some of it will stick
  2. throw enough mud at the wall, some of it will stick
  3. throw everything at the wall and see what sticks
  4. throw for a loop
  5. throw gas on the fire
  6. throw gasoline on the fire
  7. throw good money after bad
  8. throw hands
  9. throw in
  10. throw in at the deep end
  11. throw in one's hand

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: throw gasoline on the fire (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-throw gasoline on the fire.wav.

Cite this entry: “throw gasoline on the fire.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/throw_gasoline_on_the_fire. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.