Link Centre Dictionary

fight

UK/faɪt/ US/fəɪt/ very common
noun (5) verb (4)

noun

1.

the act of fighting; any contest or struggle

  • “a fight broke out at the hockey game”
  • “there was fighting in the streets”
  • “the unhappy couple got into a terrible scrap”
Synonyms
2.

an intense verbal dispute

  • “a violent fight over the bill is expected in the Senate”
3.

a boxing match

  • “the fight was on television last night”
Synonyms
4.

a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war

  • “Grant won a decisive victory in the battle of Chickamauga”
  • “he lost his romantic ideas about war when he got into a real engagement”
Synonyms
5.

an aggressive willingness to compete

  • “the team was full of fight”
Synonyms

verb

1.

be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight

  • “the tribesmen fought each other”
  • “Siblings are always fighting”
Synonyms
2.

fight against or resist strongly

  • “The senator said he would oppose the bill”
  • “Don”
Synonyms
3.

make a strenuous or labored effort

  • “She struggled for years to survive without welfare”
  • “He fought for breath”
Synonyms
4.

exert oneself continuously, vigorously, or obtrusively to gain an end or engage in a crusade for a certain cause or person; be an advocate for

  • “The liberal party pushed for reforms”
  • “She is crusading for women”
  • “;”
Synonyms

Origin

From 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 Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk 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”).

Phrases

  • armored combat fight
  • armoured combat fight
  • banyan fight
  • bare-knuckle fight
  • bitch fight
  • boodle fight
  • bottle fight
  • bun fight

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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Parts

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Related verbs

Entails

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.