Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to hold someone's feet to the fire

to hold someone's feet to the fire

12 8.1
Make someone do what they promised or take responsibility by pressuring them
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : presionar a alguien
  • The community decided to hold their representatives' feet to the fire to ensure they follow through on their promises.
  • hold their feet to the fire and say
  • going to hold your feet to the fire
  • need to hold our feet to the fire

Examples

  • During the meeting, the board members agreed to hold the CEO's feet to the fire regarding the project timelines.

  • I appreciate your willingness to hold our feet to the fire on this one.

    Blog text (11)

  • In other words, we must hold their feet to the fire.

    Blog text (4)

  • You all must hold their feet to the fire because good men have died.

    Blog text (10)

  • In his view, there was no one left to challenge the candidates, to hold their feet to the fire.

    Academic text (1993)

  • If we are all informed, we have a better chance to hold their feet to the fire.

    Blog text (15)

  • Get promises, get someone elected, then hold their feet to the fire on those promises.

    Blog text (28)

  • We as a group (along with others) held his feet to the fire!

    Blog text (2)

  • I encourage civil disobedience and holding our representatives' feet to the fire to get our country back.

    Blog text (3)

  • But it's now the job of progressives to hold his feet to the fire for causes important to us.

    Blog text (21)

Synonyms

to pressure
vsto hold someone's feet to the fire
149 4.2

To try to make someone do something

is about strong insistence aimed at securing a promise or duty
to put on the spot
vsto hold someone's feet to the fire
  • Informal
41 5.3

Force someone to answer or act without time to prepare when they feel uncomfortable

relies on sustained insistence to secure a promise or duty
to put a gun to someone's head
vsto hold someone's feet to the fire
  • Offensive
8 8.3

To force someone to do something by threatening them

applies sustained intense insistence to get someone to accept responsibility
to impel
vsto hold someone's feet to the fire
4 7.2

To make someone feel they must do something, often because of pressure or need

aims to make someone accept responsibility or fulfill a duty
to bring to heel
vsto hold someone's feet to the fire
  • Informal
3 7.6

Make someone or something obey after they resist

pushes someone to accept responsibility or fulfill a promise
to bring pressure to bear
vsto hold someone's feet to the fire
  • Formal
1 6.0

To use influence to persuade someone to do something

aims specifically to make someone accept responsibility or keep a promise
to force someone's hand
vsto hold someone's feet to the fire
  • Informal
1 6.5

Make someone decide or act sooner than they want

seeks to secure responsibility or a promised action rather than timing
to turn up the pressure
vsto hold someone's feet to the fire
1 3.9

To try to make someone change what they do by making them feel more stress

intends to make someone accept responsibility or fulfill a commitment
to twist someone's arm
vsto hold someone's feet to the fire
  • Informal
1 4.4

Get someone to agree or do something by pressuring them

targets getting someone to accept responsibility or keep a promise
to pile on the pressure
vsto hold someone's feet to the fire
1 4.4

To give someone more stress to make them change their mind

focuses on raising demands to push someone into a committed action

Antonyms

to excuse
384 2.2

Forgive a fault or bad behaviour

How Pressured

to threaten
987 3.3
to hold someone's feet to the fire
  • Informal
12 8.1
to press
285 3.9
to nudge
24 4.1
to ask
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

hold someone's feet to the fire infinitive
holding someone's feet to the fire present participle
holds someone's feet to the fire third person singular
held someone's feet to the fire past
held someone's feet to the fire past participle

Morphology

hold + someone's + feet + to + the + fire

The literal words evoke a vivid image of coercion—holding someone's feet near a fire—which signals pressure or punishment, so a learner who knows the constituents could plausibly infer a sense of forcing or pressuring. However, the specific pragmatic sense of enforcing responsibility or ensuring a commitment is an idiomatic extension that requires cultural/pragmatic knowledge and is not fully predictable from the parts.

Etymology

The idiom hold someone's feet to the fire comes from a harsh old image: to hold a person with their feet close to a fire so the heat forced them to obey. So today the phrase means 'to put someone under strong pressure to act or keep a promise'.