fight off

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

Its declaration of a caliphate in 2014 was electrifying to many Muslims, coming at a time when the group seemed to be successfully expanding its borders and fighting off enemies. — Daniel Byman, Foreign Affairs, 8 Sep. 2026

Clearly, having previously fought off efforts by OpenAI to get the case tossed, the Times sees its copyright and copyright law differently in this potentially pivotal case. — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 2 Sep. 2026

Shaye plays Elise Rainer, a dimension-traveling psychic who helps people fight off demons, even from the afterlife. — Tanya Fedak, Variety, 26 Aug. 2026

The redoubtable Israeli army, supposedly capable of fighting off enemies in Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen all at once, has now added to its glory the removal of a ragtag canopy in a daring commando raid. — David Shulman, The New York Review of Books, 26 Aug. 2026

Rhymes for fight off

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