/faɪt/, /fəɪt/, [fəɪʔ]
OriginFrom Middle English fighten (“to fight”), from Old English feohtan (“to fight, combat, strive”), from Proto-West Germanic *fehtan (“to fight”), 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)”), Norwegian fekte (“to fence”), 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”).
- transitiveTo engage in combat with; to oppose physically, to contest with.
“My grandfather fought the Nazis in World War II.”
- transitiveTo conduct or engage in (battle, warfare, a cause, etc.).
“Our soldiers fought the battle just over that hill.”
“I have fought a good fight.”
“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.”
- intransitiveTo contend in physical conflict, either singly or in war, battle etc.
“A wounded animal will fight tooth and nail; relentless, savage and murderous.”
- reciprocalTo contend in physical conflict with each other, either singly or in war, battle etc.
“The two boxers have been fighting for more than half an hour.”
- causativeTo cause to fight; to manage or manoeuvre in a fight.
“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 ab”
“to fight cocks; to fight one’s ship”
- intransitiveTo strive for something; to campaign or contend for success.
“He fought for the Democrats in the last election.”
“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 th”
“[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”
- transitiveTo try to overpower; to fiercely counteract.
“The government pledged to fight corruption.”
“I fought a sneeze as Max took my hand and led me into the chapel.”
- intransitiveOf colours or other design elements: to clash; to fail to harmonize.
“The higher the saturation, the more the colors fight, and the more users will be looking at your design instead of your content.”
- countable, uncountableAn occasion of fighting.
“One of them got stuck in a chokehold and got stabbed to death during the fight.”
- archaic, countable, uncountableA battle between opposing armies.
- countable, uncountableA physical confrontation or combat between two or more people or groups.
“Watch your language! Are you looking for a fight?”
- countable, uncountableA boxing or martial arts match.
“I’m going to Nick’s to watch the big fight tomorrow night.”
- countable, uncountableA conflict, possibly nonphysical, with opposing ideas or forces; strife.
“I’ll put up a fight to save this company.”
“‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutali”
“As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fi”
- uncountableThe will or ability to fight.
“That little guy has a bit of fight in him after all. As soon as he saw the size of his opponent, all the fight went out of him.”
- countable, obsolete, uncountableA screen for the combatants in ships; an arming.
“Who ever ſaw a noble ſight, / That never view'd a brave Sea Fight: / Hang up your bloody Colours in the Aire, / Up with your Fights, and your Nettings prepare, / Your Merry Mates chear, with a luſty b”
Formsfights(present, singular, third-person) · fighting(participle, present) · fought(past) · fought(participle, past) · foughten(archaic, participle, past) · fight(infinitive) · fight(first-person, present, singular) · fought(first-person, past, singular) · fight(present, second-person, singular) · fightest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · fought(past, second-person, singular) · foughtest(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · fighteth(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · fought(past, singular, third-person) · fight(plural, present) · fought(past, plural) · fight(present, subjunctive) · fought(past, subjunctive) · fight(imperative, present) · -(imperative, past)