do not add oil to the fire
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Avoid making a bad situation worse
Literally: adding fuel to a fire
Examples
The politician's comment was unwise, as it did not add oil to the fire, but rather calmed the crowd
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “do not add oil to the fire” mean?
Avoid making a bad situation worse Literally: adding fuel to a fire
Is “do not add oil to the fire” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.