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Synonyms

fighter

American  
[fahy-ter] / ˈfaɪ tər /

noun

  1. a boxer; pugilist.

  2. Military. an aircraft designed to seek out and destroy enemy aircraft in the air and to protect bomber aircraft.

  3. a person who fights, struggles, resists, etc.

  4. a person with the will, courage, determination, ability, or disposition to fight, struggle, resist, etc.

  5. an animal, as a dog, trained to fight or having the disposition to fight.

fighter British  
/ ˈfaɪtə /

noun

  1. a person who fights, esp a professional boxer

  2. a person who has determination

  3. military an armed aircraft designed for destroying other aircraft

"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

Other Word Forms

  • nonfighter noun

Etymology

Origin of fighter

before 1000; Middle English; Old English fēohtere. See fight, -er 1

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.

US media reported Friday that American special forces had rescued one of two crew members of a downed F-15, the first US fighter jet to go down inside Iran since the start of the war.

From Barron's • Apr. 5, 2026

Iranian and American forces raced each other Saturday to recover a crew member of the first US fighter jet to go down inside Iran since the start of the war.

From Barron's • Apr. 4, 2026

And both Iranian and US forces are continuing to search for a missing American crew member after an F-15 fighter jet was shot down on Friday.

From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026

The F-15E jet fighter and A-10 attack plane were the first U.S. or Israeli aircraft to be shot down in thousands of sorties flown in Iranian airspace.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026

Soviet fighter pilots cleared the sky of German night fighters around them for several nights.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

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

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.