fight off

British

verb

to repulse; repel
to struggle to avoid or repress

to fight off a cold

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

fight off Idioms

Defend against, drive back, as in I've been fighting off a cold all week. This figurative use of the term, originally meaning “to repel an enemy” dates from the early 1800s.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

fight off

Mr. Craighead, as a British adviser, had no obligation to fight off a terrorist attack on Kenyan soil.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

That’s the biggest spread above the 200-DMA since April 2000, as the SOX was trying to fight off the popping of the dot-com bubble.

From MarketWatch ● May 15, 2026

A ragtag group of Duffer Brothers misfits teaming up to fight off eldritch horror might be the last safe bet in television.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026

The proposed legislation aims to fight off any nascent Chinese advantage in those market segments.

From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026

It’s a cruel joke, but it’s hard for me to fight off a smile.

From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023