fight back

phrasal verb

fought back; fighting back; fights back

: to attack or try to defeat someone who is attacking or trying to defeat oneself

We can't just let them make these accusations against us. We need to fight back!

: to make a new effort against an opponent

They fell behind early in the game, but they were able to fight back and tie the score in the second half.

Examples of fight back in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Musk gave Ukraine free access to the system, which was a valuable tool in its ability to fight back against invading forces. —

William Gavin, Quartz, 25 Oct. 2024 An 8-year-old girl fought back against an attacker wearing a clown mask who is accused of assaulting her in her bedroom earlier this month, police said. —

Louis Casiano, Fox News, 23 Oct. 2024 An 8-year-old Colorado girl fought back against an intruder wearing a clown mask who tried to kidnap her during a violent late-night break-in at her family's home, court documents say. —

Tim Stelloh, NBC News, 22 Oct. 2024 Four years later, just two days before Indigenous Peoples Day, Young and Ruffalo joined forces again for Walk to the Polls to shed light on election challenges and put an empowering spin on how Native American youth can fight back. —

Kyler Alvord, People.com, 13 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for fight back

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fight back.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.