fight off
phrasal 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
Advertisement But Pages fought off an inside cut fastball and fisted his fourth single of the night, his game-winner traveling all of 205 feet with an exit velocity of 63.4 mph but perfectly placed to spark a wild celebration with teammates in the infield.
—
Mike Digiovanna, Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2024
More than 100 students were slumped around the oak-and-marble lobby of Hamilton Hall, the main hub of Columbia College, fighting off sleep.
—Edmund Lee, New York Times, 3 May 2024
A couple years into her time at Cigna, Day noticed some doctors prescribing a costly treatment called intravenous immunoglobulin, or IVIG, that helps patients with weakened immune systems fight off infections.
—Patrick Rucker, ProPublica, 29 Apr. 2024
Then Finland fought off a Soviet invasion when Joseph Stalin's Red Army attacked in 1939, known as the Winter War.
—Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY, 13 Apr. 2024
Surgery removed the 2-inch tumor in her lung, then new treatments also boosted her immune system, fighting off any recurrence.
—Yuki Noguchi, NPR, 12 Apr. 2024
Kyiv must maintain a sizeable army in order to keep fighting off the Kremlin—perhaps with universal conscription, modeled on the Israeli or Swiss variants—complete with a large and modern equipment base supplied by a robust defense industry.
—Branislav L. Slantchev, Foreign Affairs, 1 Apr. 2024
The story goes that my grandmother helped fight off the bandits.
—Jack Smart, Peoplemag, 7 Mar. 2024
The following year, Padilla called on Villaraigosa and other Eastside leaders to fight off Valley secession.
—Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 27 Feb. 2024
Mike Digiovanna, Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2024
More than 100 students were slumped around the oak-and-marble lobby of Hamilton Hall, the main hub of Columbia College, fighting off sleep.
—Edmund Lee, New York Times, 3 May 2024
A couple years into her time at Cigna, Day noticed some doctors prescribing a costly treatment called intravenous immunoglobulin, or IVIG, that helps patients with weakened immune systems fight off infections.
—Patrick Rucker, ProPublica, 29 Apr. 2024
Then Finland fought off a Soviet invasion when Joseph Stalin's Red Army attacked in 1939, known as the Winter War.
—Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY, 13 Apr. 2024
Surgery removed the 2-inch tumor in her lung, then new treatments also boosted her immune system, fighting off any recurrence.
—Yuki Noguchi, NPR, 12 Apr. 2024
Kyiv must maintain a sizeable army in order to keep fighting off the Kremlin—perhaps with universal conscription, modeled on the Israeli or Swiss variants—complete with a large and modern equipment base supplied by a robust defense industry.
—Branislav L. Slantchev, Foreign Affairs, 1 Apr. 2024
The story goes that my grandmother helped fight off the bandits.
—Jack Smart, Peoplemag, 7 Mar. 2024
The following year, Padilla called on Villaraigosa and other Eastside leaders to fight off Valley secession.
—Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 27 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fight off.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Fight off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fight%20off. Accessed 17 May. 2024.
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