hold someone's feet to the fire
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To force someone to take responsibility or action
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
buộc ai đó phải chịu trách nhiệm hoặc hành động
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: to physically hold someone's feet in flames
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The media held the politician's feet to the fire over the scandal
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. 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 “hold someone's feet to the fire” mean?
To force someone to take responsibility or action Literally: to physically hold someone's feet in flames
Is “hold someone's feet to the fire” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.