8 VERB If you fight your way to a place, you move towards it with great difficulty, for example because there are a lot of people or obstacles in your way. □ [V n prep/adv] I fought my way into a carriage just before the doors closed.
9 N‑COUNT A fight is a boxing match. □ The referee stopped the fight.
10 VERB To fight means to take part in a boxing match. □ [V ] In a few hours' time one of the world's most famous boxers will be fighting in Britain for the first time. □ [V n] I'd like to fight him because he's undefeated and I want to be the first man to beat him. □ [V n + for ] I'd like to fight him for the title.
11 VERB If you fight an election, you are a candidate in the election and try to win it. □ [V n] The former party treasurer helped raise almost £40 million to fight the election campaign.
12 N‑COUNT [usu sing] You can use fight to refer to a contest such as an election or a sports match. [JOURNALISM ] □ …the fight for power between the two parties.
13 VERB If you fight a case or a court action, you make a legal case against someone in a very determined way, or you put forward a defence when a legal case is made against you. □ [V n] Watkins fought his case in various courts for 10 years. □ [V n] The newspaper is fighting a damages action brought by the actress.
14 N‑UNCOUNT Fight is the desire or ability to keep fighting. □ I thought that we had a lot of fight in us.
15 VERB If you fight an emotion or desire, you try very hard not to feel it, show it, or act on it, but do not always succeed. □ [V n] I desperately fought the urge to giggle. □ [V + with ] He fought with the urge to smoke one of the cigars he'd given up a while ago. □ [V to-inf] He fought to be patient with her.
16 PHRASE If you describe someone as fighting fit , you are emphasizing that they are very fit or healthy. [BRIT , EMPHASIS ] □ After a good night's sleep I feel fighting fit again.
17 PHRASE Someone who is fighting for their life is making a great effort to stay alive, either when they are being physically attacked or when they are very ill. □ He is still fighting for his life in hospital.
18 to fight a losing battle → see battle
▸ fight back
1 PHRASAL VERB If you fight back against someone or something that is attacking or harming you, you resist them actively or attack them. □ [V P ] The teenage attackers fled when the two men fought back. □ [V P + against ] We should trust the judicial system to fight back against corruption.
2 PHRASAL VERB If you fight back an emotion or a desire, you try very hard not to feel it, show it, or act on it. □ [V P n] She fought back the tears. [Also V n P ]
▸ fight off
1 PHRASAL VERB If you fight off something, for example an illness or an unpleasant feeling, you succeed in getting rid of it and in not letting it overcome you. □ [V P n] Unfortunately these drugs are quite toxic and hinder the body's ability to fight off infection. □ [V P n] All day she had fought off the impulse to phone Harry. [Also V n P ]
2 PHRASAL VERB If you fight off someone who has attacked you, you fight with them, and succeed in making them go away or stop attacking you. □ [V P n] The woman fought off the attacker. [Also V n P ]
▸ fight out PHRASAL VERB If two people or groups fight something out , they fight or argue until one of them wins. □ [V n P ] Instead of retaliating, he walks away leaving his team-mates to fight it out. □ Malcolm continued to fight it out with Julien from his self-imposed exile in Paris. [V P n + with ] COLLOCATIONS fight VERB
1
fight + noun : cancer, crime, terrorism
3
fight + noun : battle, war
fight|back /fa I tbæk/ N‑SING A fightback is an effort made by a person or group of people to get back into a strong position when they seem likely to lose something such as an election or an important sports match. [BRIT , JOURNALISM ] □ Rotherham staged a tremendous second-half fightback to secure victory. in AM, use comeback
fight|er ◆◇◇ /fa I tə r / (fighters )
1 N‑COUNT A fighter or a fighter plane is a fast military aircraft that is used for destroying other aircraft.
2 N‑COUNT If you describe someone as a fighter , you approve of them because they continue trying to achieve things in spite of great difficulties or opposition. [APPROVAL ] □ From the start it was clear this tiny girl was a real fighter.
3 N‑COUNT A fighter is a person who physically fights another person, especially a professional boxer. □ …a tough little street fighter.
4 → see also firefighter , freedom fighter , prize fighter
fi g leaf (fig leaves )
1 N‑COUNT A fig leaf is a large leaf which comes from the fig tree. A fig leaf is sometimes used in painting and sculpture to cover the genitals of a naked body.
2 N‑COUNT People sometimes refer disapprovingly to something which is intended to hide or prevent an embarrassing situation as a fig leaf . [JOURNALISM , DISAPPROVAL ] □ This deal is little more than a fig leaf for the continued destruction of the landscape.