fight back

verb

fought back; fighting back; fights back
1
: 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!
2
: 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

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Placed in a jail cell wired with hidden microphones, Jester bragged to his cellmate that when Jackson tried to fight back, he pistol-whipped the rapper and shot him three times in the back. — Matthew Ormseth, Los Angeles Times, 14 Aug. 2026 Yet Ukraine still managed to fight back, damaging or sinking more than two dozen Russian ships and submarines, mostly by firing missiles from the Ukrainian mainland. — Greg Myre, NPR, 13 Aug. 2026 How citizens are fighting back Concerned residents nationwide have also found other ways to push back. — N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA Today, 8 Aug. 2026 Williams fled to Havana in 1961 due to threats from the Ku Klux Klan and local authorities because of his support for the use of violence to fight back against racist oppression in the South. — Aaron Coy Moulton, The Conversation, 7 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for fight back

Rhymes for fight back

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Browse Nearby Words

fight a losing battle
fight back
fight back tears
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Cite this Entry

“Fight back.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fight%20back. Accessed 23 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on fight back

Nglish: Translation of fight back for Spanish Speakers

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