fight back

phrasal verb

fought back; fighting back; fights back

: to attack or try to defeat someone who is attacking or trying to defeat oneself

We can't just let them make these accusations against us. We need to fight back!

: to make a new effort against an opponent

They fell behind early in the game, but they were able to fight back and tie the score in the second half.

Examples of fight back in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web In 2011, a group of climate-conscious entrepreneurs, legal scholars, and scientists decided to fight back, creating the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund to protect climate scientists from threats and censorship. —

Stephanie Hanes, The Christian Science Monitor, 6 June 2024 My answer, though, is to organize ourselves to be able to fight back against the people who are doing this. —

Essence, 28 May 2024 But many creators have fought back in court in an attempt to protect their work and likenesses. —

Andrew R. Chow, TIME, 21 May 2024 Even so, the prediction markets, which allow people to place bets on the outcome of a wide range of events, including American elections, are fighting back in the courts. —

Jeff Sommer, New York Times, 17 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for fight back

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fight back.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.