Word.ws English Dictionary

tit-for-tat

tit-for-tat adjective: having the characteristic of returning bad for bad.

Adjective

tit-for-tat (not comparable)

  1. Having the characteristic of returning bad for bad.
    • Unfortunately, many adults retain a tit-for-tat attitude, but in a more refined way than the simple, childish shove for shove.
    • Amid fears that the end to more than five and a half years of talks would lead to a new era of tit-for-tat protectionism, negotiations between the United States and the European Union broke down.2007 June 22, The Guardian, London

Origin of tit-for-tat

From tit for tat.

Questions about tit-for-tat

What does tit-for-tat mean?
Tit-for-tat means having the characteristic of returning bad for bad.
What part of speech is tit-for-tat?
Tit-for-tat is an adjective.

Words near tit-for-tat in the dictionary

  1. tit wanks
  2. tit-babbler
  3. tit-babblers
  4. tit-flycatcher
  5. tit-flycatchers
  6. tit-for-tat
  7. tit-fuck
  8. tit-fucks
  9. tit-spinetail
  10. tit-spinetails
  11. tit-tat-to

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tit-for-tat (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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