Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

bring a knife to a gunfight

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.86 in modern English

Syllables: bring a knife -to a -gun-fight
IPA

40

Scrabble Score

22

Letters

4

Syllables

13

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To enter into a confrontation or other challenging situation without being adequately equipped or prepared.

Example Sentences

"Isn't that just like a wop? Brings a knife to a gun fight."
"That is why one should never bring a knife to a gunfight, a worm should not challenge Godzilla, and a chump should never box a boxer."
"[W]e can shoot down missiles. . . . Our Kingfisher sonars can detect mines. . . . Our ships are hardened against chemical and biological weapons. But how do you stop a torpedo? . . . The best engineers in the business agree that nearly every class of torpedo currently being deployed has the capacity to sink one of our ships with a single shot. . . . [W]e are the poor bastards that brought a knife to a gunfight."

Inflected Forms

brings a knife to a gunfight (present, singular) bringing a knife to a gunfight (participle, present) brought a knife to a gunfight (participle, past) brought a knife to a gunfight (past) take a knife to a gunfight (alternative)

Phrases

fight fire with fire shoot an elephant with a BB gun use a sledgehammer to crack a nut

Frequently Paired Words

fight fire with fire shoot an elephant with a BB gun use a sledgehammer to crack a nut

Questions

What does bring a knife to a gunfight mean?: To enter into a confrontation or other challenging situation without being adequately equipped or prepared.

How to pronounce bring a knife to a gunfight

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