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Echar leña al fuego

Meaning: To make a bad situation worse.

Language: Spanish

Literally: To throw wood on the fire

Category: Nature

Origin: Adding fuel to flames is a classical image, used in Spanish for inflaming an already heated conflict.

More idioms — Nature

  • Prendere lucciole per lanterne — To be completely and badly mistaken.
  • Ficar a ver navios — To be left disappointed and empty-handed.
  • Att kasta yxan i sjön — To give up completely.
  • At save den gren over man selv sidder på — To undermine your own position.
  • At gå over åen efter vand — To do something in a needlessly roundabout way.
  • Mennä metsään — To go completely wrong.

More Spanish idioms

  • Tener más cara que espalda — To be utterly shameless and brazen.
  • Tener mala uva — To have a nasty temper or ill intentions.
  • Ponerse como una sopa — To get soaked to the bone.
  • Estar hasta en la sopa — To be everywhere; impossible to avoid.
  • Buscarle tres pies al gato — To overcomplicate things; to look for trouble.
  • Estar frito — To be fed up or worn out.

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