- fight
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n.1. a battle or combat.2. any contest or struggle: a fight for recovery from an illness.3. an angry argument or disagreement: Whenever we discuss politics, we end up in a fight.4. Boxing. a bout or contest.5. a game or diversion in which the participants hit or pelt each other with something harmless: a pillow fight; a water fight.6. ability, will, or inclination to fight: There was no fight left in him.v.i.7. to engage in battle or in single combat; attempt to defend oneself against or to subdue, defeat, or destroy an adversary.8. to contend in any manner; strive vigorously for or against something: He fought bravely against despair.v.t.9. to contend with in battle or combat; war against: England fought Germany.10. to contend with or against in any manner: to fight despair; to fight the passage of a bill.13. to make (one's way) by fighting or striving.15. to manage or maneuver (troops, ships, guns, planes, etc.) in battle.16. fight it out, to fight until a decision is reached: Let them fight it out among themselves.[bef. 900; (v.) ME fi(g)hten, OE fe(o)htan (c. G fechten); (n.) ME fi(g)ht, OE feohte, (ge)feoht, deriv. of the v. base]Syn. 1, 2. encounter, engagement, affray, fray, action, skirmish, melee; scuffle, tussle, row, riot. FIGHT, COMBAT, CONFLICT, CONTEST denote a struggle of some kind. FIGHT connotes a hand-to-hand struggle for supremacy, literally or in a figurative sense. COMBAT suggests an armed encounter, to settle a dispute. CONFLICT implies a bodily, mental, or moral struggle caused by opposing views, beliefs, etc. CONTEST applies to either a friendly or a hostile struggle for a definite prize or aim.
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Universalium. 2010.