fight

verb \ ˈfīt \

Definition of fight

fought play \ˈfȯt\; fighting

intransitive verb

1 a :to contend in battle or physical combat; especially :to strive to overcome a person by blows or weapons

The soldiers fought bravely.

b :to engage in boxing

He will fight for the heavyweight title next month.

2 :to put forth a determined effort

They were fighting to stay awake.

transitive verb

1 a (1) :to contend against in or as if in battle or physical combat

fought the invaders of his homeland

was fighting a forest fire

(2) :to box against in the ring

fought several strong contenders

b (1) :to attempt to prevent the success or effectiveness of

the company fought the takeover attempt

(2) :to oppose the passage or development of

fight a bill in Congress

2 a :wage, carry on

fight a battle

b :to take part in (a boxing match or similar contest)

3 :to struggle to endure or surmount

fight a cold

is fighting cancer

4 a :to gain by struggle

fights his way through

b :to resolve by struggle

fought out their differences in court

5 a :to manage (a ship) in a battle or storm

b :to cause to struggle or contend

c :to manage in an unnecessarily rough or awkward manner

— fight shy of

:to avoid facing or meeting

See fight defined for English-language learners

See fight defined for kids

Examples of fight in a Sentence

When he was young he was always fighting.
He fought like a tiger.
The U.S. and Germany fought in World Wars I and II.
They vowed to fight the invaders of their homeland.
The U.S. fought Germany in World Wars I and II.
He and his wife are always fighting over money.
We were fighting to protect our jobs.

Recent Examples of fight from the Web

Following Kahn’s initial tweet, the director retweeted a link to a Guardian opinion piece arguing that Swift is fighting an age-old battle with misogyny.

— oliver gettell, PEOPLE.com, "Taylor Swift Music Video Director Joseph Kahn Blasts Gender ‘Double Standards’," 31 Aug. 2017
Given the likelihood the Lions add a pass rusher through trade or waivers this weekend, that trio might be fighting for one job. • '

— dave birkett, Detroit Free Press, "Detroit Lions vs. Buffalo Bills in 2017 NFL preseason: 5 things to watch," 30 Aug. 2017
Jefferson sent the Navy to fight the Barbary pirates, thus signaling that the new nation would defend itself on the seas.

— garrett epps, The Atlantic, "Trump Doesn't Have the Authority to Attack North Korea Without Congress," 30 Aug. 2017
Fire crews dispatched to the scene encountered heavy smoke and flames coming through the roof of the restaurant and began fighting the fire.

— emily zentner, sacbee, "Sacramento Fire battles a blaze at Wendy’s restaurant," 26 Aug. 2017
A portion of the proceeds from the festival will go to the Naperville Humane Society and Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, which helps fight pediatric cancer.

— david sharos, Naperville Sun, "Fruit of the vine celebrated at annual Naperville Wine Fest," 26 Aug. 2017
Years later, however, that balance has proved elusive, as fish populations continue to suffer and advocates on various sides continue to fight in court.

— author: william yardley, Alaska Dispatch News, "Cecil D. Andrus, interior secretary under Carter and key to Alaska land protections, is dead at 85," 25 Aug. 2017
Lourenco fought against Portuguese colonial rule and served in the civil war that erupted after independence between the Marxist MPLA government and the Unita rebel group, which was backed by then U.S. President Ronald Reagan and South Africa.

— henrique almeida, Bloomberg.com, "Angolans Wonder If 'J-Lo' as President Can Close Wealth Divide," 25 Aug. 2017
Blocking that kind of unlawful coercion is federalism in action, which conservatives have fought long and hard to defend as a local check against federal overreach.

— cristian farias, Daily Intelligencer, "A New Romance: Trump Has Made Progressives Fall in Love With Federalism," 24 Aug. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fight.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of fight

Middle English, from Old English feohtan; akin to Old High German fehtan to fight and perhaps to Latin pectere to comb — more at pectinate

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

See Words from the same year

fight Synonyms

Synonyms

battle, clash (with), combat, scrimmage (with), skirmish (with), war (against)

Antonyms

advance, cultivate, encourage, forward, foster, further, nourish, nurture, promote

Related Words

duel, joust; bang, bash, bat, batter, beat, belt, bludgeon, bop, buffet, clobber, hammer, hit, knock, paste, pound, punch, slam, slap, slog, slug, smack, smite, sock, strike, swat, swipe, thump, thwack, wallop, whack, whale; box, spar; brawl; grapple, scuffle, tussle, wrestle; bump, collide

Near Antonyms

give up, submit, surrender

fight

noun

Definition of fight

1 a :a hostile encounter :battle, combat

b :a boxing match

c :a verbal disagreement :argument

2 :a struggle for a goal or an objective

a fight for justice

3 :strength or disposition for fighting :pugnacity

still full of fight

See fight defined for English-language learners

Examples of fight in a Sentence

A fight broke out in the bar.
When he was young he was always getting into fights.
He got into another fight with his wife about money.
a fight for the heavyweight title

Recent Examples of fight from the Web

Montana, a traditional FCS power, is coming off a 6-5 season and doesn’t figure to muster much of a fight.

— adam jude, The Seattle Times, "Breaking down UW’s schedule: Can anyone but Stanford test the Huskies?," 29 Aug. 2017
An already slow weekend was made worse by competition from television; the Saturday night fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor was expected to generate $500 million in pay-per-view sales in the United States alone.

— brooks barnes, New York Times, "Hollywood No Match for Mayweather vs. McGregor," 27 Aug. 2017
The fight happened in an alley off 45th Street near Orange Avenue about 11:45 p.m. Officers found the 34-year-old injured man bleeding from stab wounds to the chest and head.

— lyndsay winkley, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Man critically injured in violent, City Heights stabbing," 27 Aug. 2017
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones told 105.3 The Fan that the club considered showing the fight on the giant video board, but the price was too high.

— stefan stevenson, star-telegram, "Cowboys showing Mayweather-McGregor fight in club areas, not big screen," 26 Aug. 2017
Nine journalists spent 72 hours in April on the front lines of the fight against addiction.

— beth warren, The Courier-Journal, "‘I was scared to get sober': He dealt heroin, now he's been clean six years," 24 Aug. 2017
The fight ended before officers arrived, according to the police statement.

— gerald porter jr., Daily Southtown, "After ‘repeated’ attempts, investigation of off-duty Lansing cop seen pinning black teen stalls," 24 Aug. 2017
The climactic portion of the film is this epic fight, which takes place in a warehouse near the Golden Gate Bridge.

— g. allen johnson, kansascity, "‘Birth of the Dragon’ portrays Bruce Lee’s big fight," 24 Aug. 2017
Thanks in part to several legal fights, journal fees in the Netherlands have become public, and calculations by Waaijers have shown that Elsevier charges two or even three times as much per article by Dutch authors as three other large publishers.

— gretchen vogel, Science | AAAS, "A bold open-access push in Germany could change the future of academic publishing," 23 Aug. 2017

Origin and Etymology of fight

see ¹fight

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

See Words from the same year

fight Synonyms

Synonyms

battle, clash, combat, conflict, contest, dustup, fracas, fray, hassle, scrap, scrimmage, scrum, scuffle, skirmish, struggle, tussle

Antonyms

nonaggression, pacifism

Related Words

pitched battle, rough-and-tumble; affray [chiefly British], battle royal, brawl, broil, donnybrook, free-for-all, melee (also mêlée), mix-up, ruckus, ruction; blows, fistfight, fisticuffs, grapple, handgrips, punch-out, punch-up [chiefly British], slugfest; confrontation, duel, face-off, joust; altercation, argle-bargle [chiefly British], argument, argy-bargy [chiefly British], contretemps, controversy, cross fire, disagreement, dispute, falling-out, kickup, misunderstanding, quarrel, row, spat, squabble, tangle, tiff, wrangle; catfight

Near Antonyms

truce

Other Combat Sports Terms

foil, riposte, welter

FIGHT Defined for English Language Learners

fight

verb

Definition of fight for English Language Learners

: to use weapons or physical force to try to hurt someone, to defeat an enemy, etc. : to struggle in battle or physical combat
: to be involved in (a battle, struggle, etc.)
: to argue in an angry way