"bring a knife to a gunfight" meaning in English

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      "form": "brings a knife to a gunfight",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
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    },
    {
      "form": "bringing a knife to a gunfight",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brought a knife to a gunfight",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brought a knife to a gunfight",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "take a knife to a gunfight",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
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      "args": {
        "1": "bring<,,brought> a knife to a gunfight"
      },
      "expansion": "bring a knife to a gunfight (third-person singular simple present brings a knife to a gunfight, present participle bringing a knife to a gunfight, simple past and past participle brought a knife to a gunfight)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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          "kind": "other",
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1987, David Mamet, The Untouchables:",
          "text": "Isn't that just like a wop? Brings a knife to a gun fight.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Gus Lee, China Boy, →ISBN, page 310:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Jeff Edwards, Torpedo, →ISBN, page xiii:",
          "text": "[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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To enter into a confrontation or other challenging situation without being adequately equipped or prepared."
      ],
      "id": "en-bring_a_knife_to_a_gunfight-en-verb-o9PqEkXa",
      "links": [
        [
          "confrontation",
          "confrontation"
        ],
        [
          "challenging",
          "challenging"
        ],
        [
          "adequate",
          "adequate"
        ],
        [
          "equip",
          "equip"
        ],
        [
          "prepare",
          "prepare"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To enter into a confrontation or other challenging situation without being adequately equipped or prepared."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "fight fire with fire"
        },
        {
          "word": "use a sledgehammer to crack a nut"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "to be inadequately equipped",
          "word": "拿著雞蛋碰石頭 /拿著鸡蛋碰石头"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "note": "拿着鸡蛋碰石头 (ná zhe jīdàn pèng shítou, literally “hit stones with eggs”)",
          "sense": "to be inadequately equipped"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to be inadequately equipped",
          "word": "lähteä soitellen sotaan"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to be inadequately equipped",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "przychodzić nieprzygotowany"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to be inadequately equipped",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "przyjść nieprzygotowany"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "note": "про́тив ло́ма нет приёма (prótiv lóma net prijóma, literally “there is no wrestling technique blocking a crowbar”)",
          "sense": "to be inadequately equipped"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to be inadequately equipped",
          "word": "a la guerra sin fusil"
        }
      ]
    }
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  "word": "bring a knife to a gunfight"
}

{
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    {
      "form": "brings a knife to a gunfight",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bringing a knife to a gunfight",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brought a knife to a gunfight",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brought a knife to a gunfight",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "take a knife to a gunfight",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "bring<,,brought> a knife to a gunfight"
      },
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      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "fight fire with fire"
    },
    {
      "word": "use a sledgehammer to crack a nut"
    }
  ],
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        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with Mandarin translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1987, David Mamet, The Untouchables:",
          "text": "Isn't that just like a wop? Brings a knife to a gun fight.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Gus Lee, China Boy, →ISBN, page 310:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Jeff Edwards, Torpedo, →ISBN, page xiii:",
          "text": "[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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To enter into a confrontation or other challenging situation without being adequately equipped or prepared."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "confrontation",
          "confrontation"
        ],
        [
          "challenging",
          "challenging"
        ],
        [
          "adequate",
          "adequate"
        ],
        [
          "equip",
          "equip"
        ],
        [
          "prepare",
          "prepare"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To enter into a confrontation or other challenging situation without being adequately equipped or prepared."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "to be inadequately equipped",
      "word": "拿著雞蛋碰石頭 /拿著鸡蛋碰石头"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "note": "拿着鸡蛋碰石头 (ná zhe jīdàn pèng shítou, literally “hit stones with eggs”)",
      "sense": "to be inadequately equipped"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to be inadequately equipped",
      "word": "lähteä soitellen sotaan"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to be inadequately equipped",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "przychodzić nieprzygotowany"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to be inadequately equipped",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "przyjść nieprzygotowany"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "note": "про́тив ло́ма нет приёма (prótiv lóma net prijóma, literally “there is no wrestling technique blocking a crowbar”)",
      "sense": "to be inadequately equipped"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to be inadequately equipped",
      "word": "a la guerra sin fusil"
    }
  ],
  "word": "bring a knife to a gunfight"
}