fight off

phrasal verb

fought off; fighting off; fights off

: to defend oneself against (someone or something) by fighting or struggling : to avoid being harmed or overcome by (someone or something) by fighting or struggling

They fought off the attack/attackers.

I'm trying to fight off a cold.

Examples of fight off in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Most importantly, some workers coordinated with the French Resistance on D-Day, sabotaging trains to prevent German armaments from reaching the Normandy beaches and fighting off the Allies. —Sarah Federman, The Conversation, 16 Apr. 2025

Congress has been looking into site-neutral payments for years, but hospitals have long fought off any attempts to equalize payment rates, arguing such a move would hurt rural providers and those that rely on a high proportion of Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. —Nathaniel Weixel, The Hill, 15 Apr. 2025

The European country has been fighting off a Russian invasion since February 2022. —Josh Hammer, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Apr. 2025

Marian acted quickly, and fought off the aggressive alligator with a tomato stake. —Madison E. Goldberg, People.com, 12 Apr. 2025

Rhymes for fight off

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