fend off

phrasal verb

fended off; fending off; fends off

: to defend oneself against (someone or something)

They succeeded in fending off the attack/attackers.

They have had to fend off allegations of voter fraud.

Examples of fend off in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Others must hire lawyers to fend off phony accusations of treason. —David Remnick, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2025

Jelly Roll was helped up as Orton tried to fend off both McIntyre and Paul. —Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 3 Aug. 2025

For example, research that began decades ago to figure out how bacteria fend off viruses recently led to the first personalized gene therapy, giving a baby a chance to survive a life-threatening genetic disease. —Ari Geller, The Orlando Sentinel, 2 Aug. 2025

People threw punches, kicked and jeered as a man on the ground tried to fend off the blows and a woman tumbled to the concrete, bloody and disoriented. —Scott Wartman, The Enquirer, 2 Aug. 2025

Rhymes for fend off

• ashraf
• checkoff
• cutoff
• falloff
• handoff
• kickoff
• layoff
• liftoff
• markoff
• markov
• payoff
• playoff