| Idiom | Add Fuel to the Fire |
|---|---|
| Example | I was already angry with you, and when you forgot to pick me up, that really added fuel to the fire. |
| Meaning | to make a bad situation worse; to do or say something that causes more trouble, makes someone angrier |
| Origin | Thousands of years ago the famous Roman historian Livy used this expression. If you pour water on a fire, it goes out. But if you put fuel (like coal or wood) on a fire, you make it burn hotter and brighter. If "fire" represents any kind of trouble, then anything you do to make that trouble worse is "fuel." A similar expression is "fan the flames." |
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