Word.ws English Dictionary

use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house

use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house verb: to use the tools and framework of an oppressive system to end that oppression.

Verb

use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house (third-person singular simple present uses the master's tools to dismantle the master's house, present participle using the master's tools to dismantle the master's house, simple past and past participle used the master's tools to dismantle the master's house)

  1. To use the tools and framework of an oppressive system to end that oppression.
    • You'll never be able to use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house.
    • We are, in fact, trying to use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house by appealing to the same binary logic that undergirds SB 1250. As Butler points out, however, this is a strategy that is destined for trouble: the[…]2009 December 30, Wendy Lynne Lee, Contemporary Feminist Theory and Activism: Six Global Issues, Broadview Press, →ISBN, page 29

Examples of use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house in a sentence

  • You can't use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house.2011 January 4, Derrick Jensen, Endgame, Volume 2: Resistance, Seven Stories Press, →ISBN:
  • Initially, though, Tahneh and Diut appear to use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house.2017, Kristen Lillvis, Posthuman Blackness and the Black Female Imagination, University of Georgia Press, →ISBN, page 95:
  • On the other hand, the statement under consideration functions normatively, implying that one should never use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house.2020 July 28, D.A. Wood, Epistemic Decolonization: A Critical Investigation into the Anticolonial Politics of Knowledge, Springer Nature...

Forms of use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house

third-person singular presentuses the master's tools to dismantle the master's house
present participleusing the master's tools to dismantle the master's house
past participleused the master's tools to dismantle the master's house
pastused the master's tools to dismantle the master's house

Origin of use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house

Coined by American writer and feminist activist Audre Lorde in her essay "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House".

Questions about use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house

What does use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house mean?
Use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house means to use the tools and framework of an oppressive system to end that oppression.
How do you use use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house in a sentence?
You can't use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house.
What part of speech is use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house?
Use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house is a verb.
What is the past tense of use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house?
The past tense of use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house is used the master's tools to dismantle the master's house.

Words near use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house in the dictionary

  1. use one's loaf
  2. use one's noggin
  3. use tax
  4. use taxes
  5. use the bathroom
  6. use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house
  7. use the potty
  8. use the restroom
  9. use the toilet
  10. use the user
  11. use the washroom

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house (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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Cite this entry: “use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/use_the_master%27s_tools_to_dismantle_the_master%27s_house. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.