Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

hold someone's feet to the fire

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.16 in modern English

Syllables: hold -some-one's feet -to the -fire
IPA

40

Scrabble Score

25

Letters

5

Syllables

12

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To maintain personal, social, political, or legal pressure on someone in order to induce them to comply with one's desires; to hold someone accountable for their actions.

Example Sentences

"In this letter the governor explained that he was being threatened with impeachment and needed all the jobs in his gift to stave off such proceedings and to "hold the feet of members of the legislature to the fire.""
"We want to hold the Administration's feet to the fire to secure a decent agreement."
"He kept tabs on presidents, monitored members of Congress, held bureaucrats' feet to the fire."

Etymology

From the implied threat of physical harm by burning.

Inflected Forms

holds someone's feet to the fire (present, singular) holding someone's feet to the fire (participle, present) held someone's feet to the fire (participle, past) held someone's feet to the fire (past)

Questions

What does hold someone's feet to the fire mean?: To maintain personal, social, political, or legal pressure on someone in order to induce them to comply with one's desires; to hold someone accountable for their actions.
Where does hold someone's feet to the fire come from?: From the implied threat of physical harm by burning.

How to pronounce hold someone's feet to the fire

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “hold someone's feet to the fire”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “hold someone's feet to the fire”.
Repeat and practice — Say “hold someone's feet to the fire” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.