pit against

pit (someone or something) against (someone or something else)

To set someone or something into direct conflict, opposition, or competition against someone or something else. She liked pitting men against each other to vie for her affection. The country has pitted itself against the rest of the world with its plan to develop nuclear weapons.
See also: pit, something
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

pit someone or something against someone or something

to set someone or something in opposition to someone or something. The rules of the tournament pit their team against ours. John pitted Mary against Sally in the tennis match.
See also: pit
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

pit against

Set in direct opposition or competition, as in The civil war pitted brother against brother. This idiom alludes to setting fighting cocks or dogs against one another in a pit. [Mid-1700s]
See also: pit
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

pit against

v.
To set someone or something in competition with or opposition to someone or something else: The civil war pitted brother against brother. The match will pit the two greatest boxers against each other. The grading system pits one student against another and discourages cooperation.
See also: pit
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • fortify (someone or something) against (something) with (something)
  • avenge (oneself) against (someone or something)
  • compete
  • compete against
  • compete against (someone or something)
  • institute
  • institute (something) against (someone or something)
  • institute against
  • demonstrate against
  • demonstrate against (someone or something)
References in periodicals archive
Former world tennis number one Boris Becker will visit Bulgaria to participate in the closing stage of the Zagorka Tennis Cup, a competition that will pit against each other pairs made up of one professional player and one amateur.
Becker
In Flourishing Sideline Occupations, 1978, one fabric scrap is pit against another.
Kim MacConnel: Santa Monica Museum of Art
He has only a small national army to pit against the warlords' hordes of soldiers and has lurched from one political stand-off to another since he took office in Dec.
AFGHANISTAN - June 4 - Karzai Visits UK, Seeking More Aid
By overvaluing certain staff members, the patient amasses allies to pit against the devalued staff.
Patient dynamics, staff burnout, and consultation-liaison psychiatry
With the appearance of pictorial material in Darboven's work in 1978, "numbers" became something to pit against "objects" as if in some ontological contest, just as calculation arose as a credible armature for large-scale concatenations of images.
Hanne Darboven: Dia Center for the Arts