Have you ever given someone exactly what they gave you? Then you've taken part in a bit of tit for tat.

Meaning

Tit for tat describes an action taken in direct response to another person's action, usually as retaliation.

Origin

The phrase likely comes from the older expression "tip for tap," meaning "blow for blow."

In use

  • "She cancelled their meeting at the last minute, so he cancelled the next one. Pure tit for tat."
  • "The two supermarkets have been locked in a tit-for-tat pricing war for months."

Usage notes

Before a noun, it takes hyphens: a tit-for-tat response. Used on its own, it stays unhyphenated: "It turned into tit for tat." The tone is usually slightly negative, suggesting pettiness rather than a fair response.

Some more exmples

Here are more example sentences, ranging in tone and context:

Everyday / personal

"He stopped inviting her to lunch, so she stopped inviting him. It was pure tit for tat."
"The neighbours have been locked in a tit-for-tat dispute over the fence for years."
"I know it's childish, but I felt like giving her a bit of tit for tat."

Workplace

"After being left off the email chain, he left her off the next one. Petty, but tit for tat."
"The two departments seem more interested in tit-for-tat point-scoring than solving the actual problem."

Business / economics

"The airlines responded to each other's fare cuts with tit-for-tat price drops."
"Analysts fear a tit-for-tat trade war could hurt both economies."
"The rival firms have engaged in tit-for-tat lawsuits over patent infringement."

Politics / international relations

"The tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats escalated tensions between the two countries."
"Both sides accused each other of tit-for-tat provocations along the border."
"The government imposed tit-for-tat tariffs in response to the new trade restrictions."

Sport

"The match descended into tit-for-tat fouls in the final ten minutes."

Did you know?

"Tit for tat" is also the name of a famous strategy in game theory, the study of strategic decision-making. It comes from a classic scenario called the Prisoner's Dilemma, where two people must decide whether to cooperate or betray each other without knowing the other's choice. The "tit for tat" strategy is simple: cooperate first, then copy whatever the other person did last time. Researchers found it remarkably effective at encouraging cooperation, since it rewards trust and punishes betrayal without holding a grudge.