beat someone at their own game

beat someone at their own game

English

Alternative forms

• play someone at their own game (British)

Verb

beat someone at their own game (third-person singular simple present beats someone at their own game, present participle beating someone at their own game, simple past beat someone at their own game, past participle beaten someone at their own game or (colloquial) beat someone at their own game)

1. (figuratively) To successfully use someone's methods and strategies against them.

Translations

Translations

Arabic: please add this translation if you can Chinese: Mandarin: 以其人之道，還治其人之身／以其人之道，还治其人之身 (zh) (yǐ qí rén zhī dào, huán zhì qí rén zhī shēn) Finnish: voittaa omassa pelissään French: battre à son propre jeu German: jemanden mit seinen eigenen Waffen schlagen Polish: bić własną bronią impf, pobić własną bronią impf Russian: please add this translation if you can Spanish: please add this translation if you can

See also

• the biter bit
• tables are turned
• hoisted by one's own petard

Further reading

• “beat sb at their own game” in the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• “beat someone at their own game”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
• “beat play someone at their own game” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “beat someone at their own game” (US) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “to beat someone at their own game”, in Collins English Dictionary.