Definition
以毒攻毒 is a chengyu that literally means 'to fight poison with poison'. It describes using a harmful or extreme method to counteract another harmful or extreme method, similar to 'fighting fire with fire' in English. It often implies a strategic or retaliatory approach where you use the opponent's own tactics against them.
f.e.
to fight poison with poisonto use the opponent's own methods against themto set a thief to catch a thief
Examples
- ,以毒攻毒。Miànduì wǎngluò gōngjī, tāmen cǎiqǔ le yǐ dú gōng dú de cèlüè.Facing the cyber attack, they adopted a fight-fire-with-fire strategy.
- 。Zhōngyī yǒushí huì yòng yǐ dú gōng dú de fāngfǎ zhìliáo yínán zázhèng.Traditional Chinese medicine sometimes uses the method of fighting poison with poison to treat difficult diseases.
- 、以毒攻毒。Zhè bù diànyǐng jiǎng de shì yǐ bào zhì bào, yǐ dú gōng dú de gùshì.This movie tells a story of fighting violence with violence and poison with poison.
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