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

Centuries ago, the northern provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands—which became the Dutch Republic—not only fought off their Spanish overlords, who were, on paper, far richer and stronger but also, thanks to its trusted currency, became a capital powerhouse and created a globe-girdling empire. —Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025

Ukraine wants mainly to survive as a nation and stop the hemorrhaging of people and resources it has been forced to commit to in fighting off its attacker. —Alexander Smith, NBC news, 11 Aug. 2025

Drones already have changed the nature of warfare, as evidenced in Ukraine’s struggle to fight off the more than 3-year-old invasion by Russia. —Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Aug. 2025

The body will then learn to recognize this protein without having to fight off the full infectious agent. —Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 6 Aug. 2025

Rhymes for fight off

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