火上浇油 (huǒ shàng jiāo yóu) — to add fuel to the fire, to aggravate the situation
Definition
A vivid 成语 meaning to worsen a bad or tense situation by one's words or actions. Comparable to 雪上加霜 (one disaster on top of another), but 火上浇油 is deliberate — the speaker actively makes things worse.
idiom
to add fuel to the fireto aggravate the situation
Examples
- ，火上浇油。Tā zhèng zài qì tóu shang, nǐ bié zài shuō huǒ shàng jiāo yóu de huà le.He's already furious — don't say anything that would add fuel to the fire.
- ，火上浇油。Fū qī chǎo jià shí, wài rén zuì hǎo bú yào huǒ shàng jiāo yóu.When a couple is arguing, outsiders had better not pour oil on the fire.
- ，火上浇油。Tā běn lái jiù hěn jiāo lǜ, nǐ zhè yàng zuò jiǎn zhí shì huǒ shàng jiāo yóu.He was already anxious — what you did was simply adding fuel to the fire.
Appears in
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