add fuel to the fire

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Verb

1. Used other than with a figurative or idiomatic meaning: see add, fuel, fire
2. (idiomatic) To worsen a conflict between people; to inflame an already tense situation

   Instead of apologizing to his girlfriend he decided to add fuel to the fire.

   • 1839, Charles Dodd, Mark Aloysius Tierney (editor), Dodd's Church History of England, Volume 2,

     But this had no effect, only to add fuel to the fire ; so that, at last, both parties were so exasperated, that, had not the magistrates of Frankfort (who were now head of the English reformed church) interposed, they were on the point of coming to blows.

   • 1891, The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, Volume 54,

     ... and to admit women into active participation in politics will certainly be to increase disorder and add fuel to the fire of strife.

   Synonyms: pour gasoline on the fire, add insult to injury, fan the flames, make matters worse
   Antonyms: pour oil on troubled waters

Translations

• French: jeter de l'huile sur le feu, mettre de l'huile sur le feu
• German: Öl ins Feuer gießen
• Italian: aggiungere esca al fuoco, mettere benzina sul fuoco
• Portuguese: pôr lenha na fogueira, colocar lenha na fogueira
• Russian: подлива́ть ма́сло в ого́нь
• Spanish: echar leña al fuego, echar gasolina al fuego, ya escampa y llovían guijarros, dar pábulo

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