as in to protect
to drive danger or attack away from
learned to use humor to fend herself from criticism
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of fend
Recent waves of emigration of younger Cubans have left many older adults alone to fend for themselves under the direst conditions.
—
Sarah Moreno
updated April 29, Miami Herald, 29 Apr. 2026
Sinner took their first meeting, overwhelming a streaky Jódar in the first set and fending him off for most of the second in a 6-2, 7-6(0) win Wednesday.
—Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2026
Farms were razed, and cats and dogs were left to fend for themselves as families were repeatedly displaced from their homes by the Israeli airstrikes.
—Irus Braverman, The Conversation, 27 Apr. 2026
When the shots rang out last night at the Washington Hilton, multiple teams flooded into the rooms to find their protectees and get them out, climbing over chairs—in some cases with guns drawn or hand on holster—and sometimes leaving spouses, colleagues, and others to fend for themselves.
—Michael Scherer, The Atlantic, 26 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for fend
Sarah Moreno
updated April 29, Miami Herald, 29 Apr. 2026
Sinner took their first meeting, overwhelming a streaky Jódar in the first set and fending him off for most of the second in a 6-2, 7-6(0) win Wednesday.
—Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2026
Farms were razed, and cats and dogs were left to fend for themselves as families were repeatedly displaced from their homes by the Israeli airstrikes.
—Irus Braverman, The Conversation, 27 Apr. 2026
When the shots rang out last night at the Washington Hilton, multiple teams flooded into the rooms to find their protectees and get them out, climbing over chairs—in some cases with guns drawn or hand on holster—and sometimes leaving spouses, colleagues, and others to fend for themselves.
—Michael Scherer, The Atlantic, 26 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for fend
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fend
Verb
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Search for a director of football Sources with knowledge of the situation — who, like all those cited in this piece, spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships — say Nuno will have a big say in the appointment of a director of football.—
Roshane Thomas,
New York Times,
28 May 2026
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Perry’s grieving mother accuses Iwamasa of betraying his duty to protect her son.—
Brittny Mejia,
Los Angeles Times,
27 May 2026
Verb
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The mom of two later agreed with and responded to other followers who defended her in the comments.—
Vanessa Etienne,
PEOPLE,
25 May 2026
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The defending champions, who were ominously close to the relegation zone, countered on City for fun in a 4-2 victory.—
Jordan Campbell,
New York Times,
25 May 2026
Verb
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Leaders who build these practices into how AI gets deployed now safeguard their organizations from a culture where AI supplants human reasoning rather than supports it, and from the performance costs that follow.—
Chris Rosenberg,
Forbes.com,
28 May 2026
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The lawmakers wrote to Davies expressing their concern that the department is not doing enough to safeguard service members’ lives.—
Mike Brest,
The Washington Examiner,
28 May 2026
Verb
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Its highlight would be the Lunar Vertex, an investigative project from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory that is meant to study bright spots on the moon called lunar swirls, which are thought to mark regions that are more shielded from cosmic radiation.—
Dan Vergano,
Scientific American,
27 May 2026
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By carving out preexisting cases, the amendments would effectively shield these efforts from reform.—
David Blackmon,
Forbes.com,
27 May 2026
Verb
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Last night, guards De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper combined to score only 14 points on 5-of-20 shooting.—
Tim Rohan,
NBC news,
27 May 2026
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Therefore, guard your impulses.—
Georgia Nicols,
Denver Post,
27 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fend.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fend. Accessed 1 Jun. 2026.
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