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

The best thing to fight off early sunset melancholia is to try to get outside at dusk, even for a few minutes. —Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 5 Nov. 2025

As Hoffine noted, hunger often kills not just through starvation, but by weakening immune systems to the point where people can't fight off disease. —Nurith Aizenman, NPR, 5 Nov. 2025

Agents appear to fight off a screaming crowd trying to help the man by pushing them away and threatening them with pepper spray. —Zoe Sottile, CNN Money, 3 Nov. 2025

Young was able to fight off that early turnover and lead an impressive 10-play, 76-yard touchdown drive on the next series. —Mike Kaye, Charlotte Observer, 2 Nov. 2025

Rhymes for fight off

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