Dictionary

fight back en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /faɪt bæk/
• [fʌɪt bæk] (Canada, US)

Etymology

From fight and back.

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To defend oneself by fighting.
   • The bully hadn't been expecting his victim to fight back, and now the bully has quadriplegia.
2. (intransitive) To defend oneself by fighting. ▸ To counterattack (counterstrike); to resist an attack or respond after one.
   • During the Pearl Harbor attack, the U.S. Navy began fighting back, and it wouldn't stop until August 1945.
   • With Scott and the outstanding Claire Rafferty in particular fighting back, all was not lost. 2015 June 9, “Women’s World Cup 2015: England beaten by France in Group F opener”, in The Guardian (London), archived from the original on 17 Jun 2017:
   • The 1928 Royal Commission on Transport not only set some controls for the road haulage industry, it also gave the railway companies the opportunity to fight back. 2021 August 25, Richard Foster, “The rise and fall of railway's Big Four...”, in RAIL, number 938, pages 54–55:
   • KIRA: You can change their minds. Convince your fellow Cardassians to go on the offensive. DUKAT: No, I'd be wasting my breath. They wouldn't listen to me. No one wants to fight. There was a time when the mere mention of my race inspired fear. And now we're beaten people, afraid to fight back because we don't want to lose what little is left. 1996, “Return to Grace”, in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, season 4, episode 14 (Science Fiction), →OCLC:
3. (transitive) to repress; to struggle to repress.
   • fight back tears
   • She tried to fight back her laughter.
   • It was especially after the Battle of Midway that the U.S. was able to fight the Japanese back toward their home islands.
4. (in sports, intransitive) To overturn a losing deficit.

Forms

Relateds

punch upward · punch up · give as good as one gets · escalation · tit for tat

Translations (33)

it contrattaccare (to counterattack; to resist an attack) · ja 巻き返す (to counterattack; to resist an attack) · fi taistella (to counterattack; to resist an attack) · it difendersi (to defend oneself by fighting) · oc contra-atacar (to counterattack; to resist an attack) · fi taistella vastaan (to counterattack; to resist an attack) · pl kontratakować (to counterattack; to resist an attack) · la renītor (to defend oneself by fighting) · ca contraatacar (to counterattack; to resist an attack) · pl stawiać opór (to defend oneself by fighting) · pl nadrabiać (sports: to overturn a losing deficit) · fi tehdä vastahyökkäys (to counterattack; to resist an attack) · pt contra-atacar (to counterattack; to resist an attack) · pl stawić opór (to defend oneself by fighting) · it contrattaccare (sports: to overturn a losing deficit) · pl nadrobić (sports: to overturn a losing deficit) · pl powstrzymywać (to repress; to struggle to repress) · fi taistella vastaan (to repress; to struggle to repress) · fi taistella (to defend oneself by fighting) · fi pidättää (to repress; to struggle to repress) · it contrastare (to defend oneself by fighting) · pl powstrzymać (to repress; to struggle to repress) · eo kontraŭataki (to counterattack; to resist an attack) · fi nousta voittoon (sports: to overturn a losing deficit) · fr contre-attaquer (to counterattack; to resist an attack) · it combattere (to defend oneself by fighting) · es contraatacar (to counterattack; to resist an attack) · grc ἀντεπιτίθεμαι (to counterattack; to resist an attack) · pl obronić się (to defend oneself by fighting) · tl manlaban (to defend oneself by fighting) · it reprimere (to repress; to struggle to repress) · el αντεπιτίθεμαι (to counterattack; to resist an attack) · pl bronić się (to defend oneself by fighting)