Synonyms of fighting

fighting 1 of 3

adjective

as in battling

Related Words

• battling
• warring
• savage
• cross
• vicious
• testy
• ugly
• hostile
• irritable
• disagreeable
• ornery
• peevish
• fretful
• petulant
• dyspeptic
• bilious
• fractious
• acidic
• antagonistic
• irascible
• grumpy
• surly
• bristly
• touchy
• querulous
• waspish
• choleric
• snappish
• grouchy
• pettish
• combative
• bearish
• crabby
• huffy
• cranky
• belligerent
• stroppy
• warlike
• confrontational
• aggressive
• ill-tempered
• militant
• prickly
• fierce
• gladiatorial
• assaultive
• feisty
• pugnacious
• bellicose
• quarrelsome
• ill-natured
• ill-humored
• agonistic
• snappy
• contentious
• argumentative
• hot-tempered
• scrappy
• rude
• chippy
• discordant
• brawly
• disputatious
• truculent

Dissimilar Words

• peaceful
• peaceable
• pacific
• nonaggressive
• uncombative
• friendly
• pleasant
• benevolent
• conciliatory
• nonbelligerent
• unwarlike
• quiet
• calm
• cordial
• gracious
• good-natured
• amiable
• unbelligerent
• ingratiating
• amicable
• sociable
• genial
• complaisant
• obliging
• easygoing
• uncontentious
• antimilitarist
• affable
• mild
• kindhearted
• relaxed
• tranquil
• serene
• gentle
• anti-imperialist
• benign
• kindly
• good-tempered

fighting

2 of 3

noun

as in combat

Related Words

• combat
• warfare
• battle
• skirmish
• engagement
• action
• civil war
• war
• world war
• cold war
• police action
• hostilities
• conflict
• holy war
• limited war
• conflagration
• hot war

Dissimilar Words

• peace
• disarmament
• demobilization
• demilitarization
• pacification
• truce
• calm
• tranquility
• peacefulness
• ceasefire

fighting

3 of 3

verb

present participle of fight

1

as in combating

to oppose (someone) in physical conflict

a proud people who have fiercely fought all invaders of their homeland

Synonyms & Similar Words

• battling
• combating
• beating
• dueling
• clashing (with)
• skirmishing (with)
• wrestling
• warring (against)
• hitting
• punching
• knocking
• slapping
• boxing
• jousting
• scrimmaging (with)
• striking
• pounding
• battering
• sparring
• slugging
• smacking
• banging
• hammering
• slamming
• brawling
• whacking
• thumping
• bashing
• smiting
• swatting
• buffeting
• grappling
• slogging
• swiping
• batting
• pasting
• bumping
• whaling
• belting
• scuffling
• clobbering
• bopping
• socking
• colliding
• tussling
• thwacking
• bludgeoning
• walloping

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• submitting
• giving up
• surrendering

2

as in opposing

to strive to reduce or eliminate

a civil rights leader who dedicated his life to fighting prejudice

Synonyms & Similar Words

• opposing
• combating
• battling
• countering
• resisting
• confronting
• contending (with)
• withstanding
• oppugning
• thwarting
• facing
• frustrating
• foiling
• checkmating
• baffling
• defying
• meeting

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• promoting
• advancing
• encouraging
• fostering
• cultivating
• suffering
• furthering
• forwarding
• supporting
• bearing
• enduring
• nurturing
• advocating
• abiding
• nourishing
• upholding
• backing
• endorsing
• championing

3

as in competing

to engage in a contest

everyone on that street seems to be fighting to see who can create the gaudiest holiday lighting display

Synonyms & Similar Words

• competing
• contending
• battling
• racing
• vying
• rivaling
• playing
• facing off
• challenging
• maneuvering
• engaging
• jostling
• jockeying
• working
• trying out
• going out
• training

4

as in bickering

to express different opinions about something often angrily

if you kids continue to fight, I'm turning this car around and we're heading back home!

Synonyms & Similar Words

• bickering
• arguing
• quarreling
• clashing
• brawling
• wrangling
• squabbling
• disputing
• debating
• scrapping
• discussing
• rowing
• controverting
• hassling
• quibbling
• spatting
• falling out
• altercating
• jarring
• tiffing
• argufying
• brabbling
• contesting
• mixing it up
• locking horns
• contending
• butting heads
• bandying words
• protesting
• tangling
• challenging
• daring
• kicking
• defying
• objecting
• fussing
• nitpicking
• considering
• caviling

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• coexisting
• getting along
• accepting
• agreeing
• consenting
• concurring
• assenting

5

as in resisting

to refuse to give in to

I tried to fight the temptation to eat another cookie—and lost

Synonyms & Similar Words

• resisting
• opposing
• withstanding
• repelling
• combating
• bucking
• defying
• battling
• contesting
• thwarting
• countering
• contending (with)
• stemming
• contradicting
• challenging
• hindering
• disputing
• obstructing
• checking
• frustrating
• balking
• foiling
• baffling

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• submitting (to)
• yielding (to)
• bowing (to)
• surrendering (to)
• succumbing (to)
• stooping (to)
• giving in (to)
• capitulating (to)
• knuckling under (to)

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of fighting

Adjective

After having two children and settling into post-fighting life on her farm in Riverside, Rousey seriously began to consider an MMA return last year. — CBS News, 17 May 2026

Speaking ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Johnson told the BBC that the troops should be sent to peaceful regions in non-fighting roles. — ABC News, 21 Feb. 2026

But this story isn’t just for pro-fighting fans. — Victoria Moorwood, Cincinnati Enquirer, 26 Oct. 2025

Some had joined Ukrainian combat units as volunteers, while others have sought to assist the Ukrainian people in non-fighting capacities. — Dan Lamothe, Washington Post, 4 Feb. 2023

But the computer model couldn’t distinguish fighting roosters from non-fighting roosters. — Jeff Horwitz, WSJ, 17 Oct. 2021

Noun

Itauma came out fighting in the fourth, looking sharp once again. — Sarah Shephard, New York Times, 30 Aug. 2026

The conflict has dragged on for six months, despite early expectations that major fighting would last only weeks, while efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz remain unresolved. — Azhar Sukri, CNBC, 29 Aug. 2026

The invasion has raised European willingness to spend more on defense, and the fighting has badly degraded Russia’s armed forces. — Jennifer Kavanagh, Foreign Affairs, 28 Aug. 2026

Some 500 horses, too, had to be moved out, some rearing and fighting as they were pulled into trailers. — Robert McCoppin, Chicago Tribune, 28 Aug. 2026

There is also the question of supplies and logistics, including the reallocations of some US missile interceptors from South Korea to the Middle East during the fighting. — Ivana Kottasová, CNN Money, 28 Aug. 2026

Wildland firefighters commonly work in smoke without the kind of protection that firefighters use when fighting blazes inside buildings. — Julian L. Gallegos, The Conversation, 27 Aug. 2026

Many were built during the post-9/11 Global War on Terror, when major military hubs sat well behind a lot of the fighting and insurgent groups had little ability to threaten from the air. — Steven Beynon, ABC News, 27 Aug. 2026

But Ting is still motivated by a drive to give other languages a fighting chance in a world dominated by English- and Mandarin Chinese-AI. — Nicholas Gordon, Fortune, 27 Aug. 2026

Verb

As a result, the Fed’s attention is now fixed on fighting inflation, instead of the other part of its dual mandate, namely supporting the labor market. — Jason Ma, Fortune, 30 Aug. 2026

For France, long accustomed to wildfires along arid stretches of the Atlantic and Mediterranean, the devastation in Le Porge has yielded rare consensus that its fire safety system is not up to fighting mega-fires brought on by climate change. — Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2026

Thousands of Amazon shoppers rave about the Activscience Neck-Firming Cream for its skin-tightening, wrinkle-fighting powers, and now it’s marked down to just $25. — Clara McMahon, PEOPLE, 30 Aug. 2026

In early 2026, satellite images revealed Akinci drones deployed in southern Egypt for executing strikes against the Rapid Support Forces fighting in the bloody civil war in neighboring Sudan. — Paul Iddon, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026

Sudan plunged into all-out war in April 2023 as fighting erupted between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese military. — ABC News, 28 Aug. 2026

Body camera footage shows that Jonah Neal did not pose a threat that warranted deadly force when a member of the federal crime-fighting task force in Memphis shot him in late May, according to a lawyer representing his family. — Juliana Kim, NPR, 23 Aug. 2026

An ascending coach on one side in Texas A&M’s Mike Elko and a one fighting a tough narrative in USC’s Lincoln Riley. — Scott Dochterman, New York Times, 23 Aug. 2026

With just over 10 weeks to go until November’s midterm elections, Democrats are still fighting over the future of their party. — NBC news, 23 Aug. 2026