fight
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: fīt
ipa: /faɪt/
ipa: /faɪt/
ipa: [fʌɪt]
rhymes: -aɪt
Forms: form: fights
form: fighting
form: fought
form: fought
form: foughten
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: fight
form: fight
form: fought
form: fight
form: fightest
form: fought
form: foughtest
form: fights
form: fighteth
form: fought
form: fight
form: fought
form: fight
form: fought
form: fight
form: -
form: fighting
form: fought
form: foughten
Etymology: From Middle English fighten, from Old English feohtan (“to fight, combat, strive”), from Proto-West Germanic *fehtan, from Proto-Germanic *fehtaną (“to comb, tease, shear, struggle with”), from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to comb, shear”).
Cognate with Scots fecht (“to fight”), West Frisian fjochtsje, fjuchte (“to fight”), Dutch vechten (“to fight”), Low German fechten (“to fight”), German fechten (“to fight, fence”), Danish fægte (“to fence, to fight (using blade weapons)”), Swedish fäkta (“to fence, to fight (using blade weapons), to wave vigorously (and carelessly) with one's arms”), Latin pectō (“comb, thrash”, verb), Albanian pjek (“to hit, strive, fight”), Ancient Greek πέκω (pékō, “comb or card wool”, verb). Related also to Old English feht (“wool, shaggy pelt, fleece”).
Senses: examples: text: My grandfather fought the Nazis in World War II.
glosses: Senses relating to physical conflict:
To engage in combat with; to oppose physically, to contest with.
examples: text: Our soldiers fought the battle just over that hill.
text: I have fought a good fight.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Timothy 4:7:
text: Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy 6:12:
text: His Suff’rings ſhine, and ſpread a Glory round him;
Greatly unfortunate, he fights the Cauſe
Of Honour, Virtue, Liberty, and Rome.
ref: 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2:
text: was left to fight his way through the world.
ref: 1856 December, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Samuel Johnson”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC:
glosses: Senses relating to physical conflict:
To conduct or engage in (battle, warfare, a cause, etc.).
examples: text: A wounded animal will fight tooth and nail; relentless, savage and murderous.
glosses: Senses relating to physical conflict:
To contend in physical conflict, either singly or in war, battle etc.
examples: text: The two boxers have been fighting for more than half an hour.
glosses: Senses relating to physical conflict:
To contend in physical conflict with each other, either singly or in war, battle etc.
examples: text: And so we made their grave where they should lie
Close side by side, as they had fought their tank
Through every fight, arm touching arm.
We made it deep, that nothing of the conflict they had left above
Should break into their peace.
ref: 1953, Revd. Waldo E. L. Smith, What Time the Tempest: An Army Chaplain's Story, page 244:
text: to fight cocks; to fight one’s ship
glosses: Senses relating to physical conflict:
To cause to fight; to manage or manoeuvre in a fight.
examples: text: He fought for the Democrats in the last election.
text: Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern. Then, for a jiffy, I hung on and fought for breath.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
text: [Edmund] Burke continued to fight for liberty later on in life. He backed Americans in their campaign for freedom from British taxation. He supported Catholic freedoms and freer trade with Ireland, in spite of his constituents’ ire. He wanted more liberal laws on the punishment of debtors.
ref: 2014 July 5, “Freedom fighter”, in The Economist, volume 412, number 8894:
glosses: To strive for something; to campaign or contend for success.
examples: text: The government pledged to fight corruption.
text: I fought a sneeze as Max took my hand and led me into the chapel.
ref: 2014, Ann Aguirre, The Shape of My Heart, page 42:
glosses: To try to overpower; to fiercely counteract.
examples: text: The higher the saturation, the more the colors fight, and the more users will be looking at your design instead of your content.
ref: 2013, Ian G. Clifton, Android User Interface Design:
glosses: Of colours or other design elements: to clash; to fail to harmonize.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: don't fight the tape
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fightability
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fightable
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight a losing battle
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight a rearguard action
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight back
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight bite
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight choreography
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight cocum
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight dirty
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight down
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fightest
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight fires
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight fire with fire
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight for one's life
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight it out
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight like a married couple
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight like an old married couple
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight like cat and dog
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight like cats and dogs
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight me
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight off
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight one's corner
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight one's guts out
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight out
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight shy of
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight the good fight
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight the tape
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight the tiger
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight tooth and nail
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight to the death
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight to the finish
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight up
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fight windmills
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: fire-fight
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: go down fighting
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: infight
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: live to fight another day
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: never fight a land war in Asia
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: outfight
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: play fight
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: that cock won't fight
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: the girls are fighting
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: two bald men fighting over a comb
sense: Terms derived from fight (verb)
word: you can't fight City Hall