fend

/ˈfɛnd/

fend verb: to take care of oneself; to take responsibility for one's own well-being.

Verb

fend (third-person singular simple present fends, present participle fending, simple past and past participle fended)

(intransitive) To take care of oneself; to take responsibility for one's own well-being.
- Mr. Howley. They are telling him how much they will increase the reimbursement for the total labor cost. The contractor is left to fend as he can.
- Chairman Murphy. Obviously, he can’t fend for any more than the money he has coming in.1990, Messrs Howley and Murphy, quoted in U.S. House Subcommittee on Labor Standards, Oversight hearing on the Federal Service Contract Act, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 40
(rare, except as "fend for oneself") To defend, to take care of (typically construed with for); to block or push away (typically construed with off).
- With fern beneath to fend the bitter cold.1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
- He fends, he blocks, too skillful to be downed.1999, Luo Guanzhong, translated by Moss Roberts, Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel, page 39

Noun (1)

fend (uncountable)

(obsolete) Self-support; taking care of one's own well-being.

Noun (2)

fend (plural fends)

(UK, dialectal) An enemy; fiend; the Devil.

fend meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada

fend in Malayalam

തട്ടിക്കളയുക, തടുക്കുക, എതിർക്കുക, ഒഴിവാക്കുക

fend in Kannada

ಯೋಗಕ್ಷೇಮ ನೋಡಿಕೊ, ನಿವಾರಿಸು, ಪರಿಹರಿಸು, ಹಿಮ್ಮೆಟ್ಟಿಸು, ತಡೆಹಿಡಿ

Examples of fend in a sentence

The planet was full of creatures in need, who could not really fend, and the law was at its best when it ensured that they were treated with dignity.2003, Scott Turow, Reversible Errors, page 376:
If I were not there to fend for you, you—”2002, Jude Deveraux, A Knight in Shining Armor, page 187:

All 26 example sentences with fend

Forms of fend

Verb
third-person singular present	fends
present participle	fending
past participle	fended
past	fended
Noun
plural	fends

Past tense of fend: fended

Origin of fend

From Middle English fenden (“defend, fight, prevent”), shortening of defenden (“defend”), from Old French deffendre (Modern French défendre), from Latin dēfendō (“to ward off”), from dē- + *fendō (“hit, thrust”), from Proto-Italic *fendō, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen- (“strike, kill”).

From Middle English fēnd, feond, from Old English fēond (“adversary, foe, enemy, fiend, devil, Satan”), from Proto-Germanic *fijandz, present participle of *fijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hate”). More at fiend.

Words formed from fend

Words that rhyme with fend

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about fend

What does fend mean?: Fend means to take care of oneself; to take responsibility for one's own well-being.
What is fend in Tamil?: Fend in Tamil is கவனி, காத்தமை, சரிப்படுத்து. See Fend meaning in Tamil.
How do you use fend in a sentence?: The planet was full of creatures in need, who could not really fend, and the law was at its best when it ensured that they were treated with dignity.
What part of speech is fend?: Fend can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce fend?: Fend is pronounced /ˈfɛnd/.
What is the past tense of fend?: The past tense of fend is fended.

Words near fend in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: fend (page history and authors); fend (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fend (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fend (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fend (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-fend.ogg.

Cite this entry: “fend.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fend. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.