Fight back means to resist or defend yourself: against a bully, criticism or an unfair decision. In sport, it describes a team that comes back from behind. With emotions, the meaning changes: fight back tears means to stop yourself from crying.
Want to use fight back in conversation?
Write a sentence — we'll show the mistakes right away and suggest how to say it more naturally.
The check is taking longer than usual. Your feedback will appear here automatically.
fight back (against + person/criticism); fight back to win/draw; fight back + tears/anger
- When people online criticised her photos, she fought back with a funny video.
- Our team was 2–0 down at half-time but fought back to win 3–2.
- He fought back tears as he thanked his colleagues at his leaving party.
What changed
First versionWhen the older boy pushed him, he finally gave back.
RevisionWhen the older boy pushed him, he finally fought back.
Give back can look like a way to say “hit back”, but it means to return something you borrowed or took. When you respond to an attack by resisting or hitting back, the phrase is fight back.
With emotions, back means “back in”: fight back tears, fight back anger, to keep them from coming out: She fought back tears during the speech. Don't confuse it with fight off, to drive away something that attacks you: fight off a cold.
Your turn
When the company tried to cut their holidays, the workers ___ and won.
Show the answer
fought back — The workers resisted the company's decision, so fought back, with no object. Fought off needs whatever is being driven away (fought off an attacker, fought off a cold), and there isn't one here.
Describe a time when you or someone you know stood up to something unfair. Say what happened and how it ended.
When the landlord tried to keep our deposit, my flatmate fought back with photos of the flat and got the money back.
Learn to use new words without mistakes
Write phrases with the words you are learning. LetsWords shows mistakes in usage and grammar, suggests corrections and explains them, and review helps the words stick.