fought

past tense of fight
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as in competed
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

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of fought Cordelia Tuan, 32, of Detroit, who spoke outside of the Central Station, also raised concern with the shutdown and the ending of Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidies being fought over amid it. Darcie Moran, Freep.com, 18 Oct. 2025 The film shares the experiences, memories, and post-traumatic stress of women warriors who fought in Gaza and Lebanon. Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 17 Oct. 2025 Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese military strategist, famously taught that a battle is won before it is fought by choosing the terrain on which it is fought. Josh Hammer, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025 In the fifth inning of his Toronto Blue Jays postseason debut, Scherzer fought to stay in. Mitch Bannon, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025 Many of the activists who most recently fought to keep the park support housing development, but Smith said the project will ultimately do a disservice to students and other neighborhood residents who are losing an important open space in a crowded urban environment. Sierra Lopez, Mercury News, 16 Oct. 2025 The paper doesn’t attempt to sort specific schools into tiers; that’s to be debated, or fought over, as implementation discussions heat up. Luke Cyphers, Sportico.com, 16 Oct. 2025 Netanyahu still fought the war with criminal brutality. Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2025 Davis was a civil rights lawyer who fought to desegregate public schools in Texas. Ciara McCarthy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 12 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fought
Verb
  • Jones has battled oblique and rib issues, but said he’s been through worse, such as playing every snap of his 2021 rookie season in New England.
    Cam Inman, Mercury News, 17 Oct. 2025
  • Lakisha battled and beat breast cancer when Mitchell was in high school.
    Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 15 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Her parents were opposed to the Russian occupation but too frightened to talk about it.
    Robert F. Worth, The Atlantic, 19 Oct. 2025
  • Markus opposed lobbying efforts to expand the law to children under the age of 18.
    Asra Q. Nomani, FOXNews.com, 19 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The West Highland white terrier, who died in July just shy of turning 16, competed in dog shows and at one point was ranked as the top female Westie in the country.
    Karen Kucher, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Oct. 2025
  • Among themselves, Russian women competed fiercely for male commitment—a commodity even rarer than the actual men.
    Julia Ioffe, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • On 33 occasions since 2017, Congress has been forced to pass emergency extensions to the flood insurance program, as lawmakers bickered over budgets and looming shutdowns threatened to disrupt it, according to a letter the National Association of Realtors sent to Congress ahead of the shutdown.
    Rukmini Callimachi, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2025
  • In recent years, the companies have bickered about the rise of streaming services, in which the media companies are investing billions of dollars and which lure away cable and satellite customers.
    Brian Steinberg, Variety, 26 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Trump’s Cabinet secretaries resisted wholesale cuts.
    Andy Kroll, New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2025
  • The victim resisted, was punched, and attempted to flee while calling a friend for help.
    Phillipe Vieira, CNN Money, 15 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The letter writers contended that such carnage on screens negatively influenced vulnerable children.
    Time, Time, 8 Oct. 2025
  • The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organization (AFL-CIO) has long contended that some employers exploit H-1B visas to cut costs.
    Robert Alexander, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The government’s lawyers argued the ruling effectively guts a statute aimed at reducing gun violence by preventing unlawful drug users from wielding firearms.
    Maureen Groppe, USA Today, 20 Oct. 2025
  • First, despite tabloid headlines about Leto, such noise doesn’t factor into moviegoers’ decisions to buy or not buy a ticket; it could be argued most were not even in the know of the June Air Mail exposé on his alleged behavior.
    Anthony D'Alessandro, Deadline, 20 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Long before the creation of DEI departments formally driving pedagogy in public schools, the ADL had proudly hailed itself as an organization that combatted antisemitism and other forms of bigotry.
    Sahar Mustafah August 27, Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2025
  • The Grammy winner combated the high temperatures in Long Beach by wearing a pair of open micro-denim shorts and a white T-shirt that’s part of her album merchandise, and covered her growing baby bump.
    Karla Rodriguez, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019

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Cite this Entry

“Fought.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fought. Accessed 21 Oct. 2025.

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