English · Idiom Candidate

strike someone when they are down

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

To take advantage of someone when they are vulnerable

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Lợi dụng ai đó khi họ dễ bị tổn thương

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: hit someone at a time of weakness

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The company raised prices when the town was still recovering from the hurricane, striking them when they were down

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 “strike someone when they are down” mean?

To take advantage of someone when they are vulnerable Literally: hit someone at a time of weakness

Is “strike someone when they are down” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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