fight a losing battle
fight a losing battle verb: to continue to wage war when it is clear that one is not going to win.
Verb
fight a losing battle (third-person singular simple present fights a losing battle, present participle fighting a losing battle, simple past and past participle fought a losing battle)
- To continue to wage war when it is clear that one is not going to win.
- To attempt a task or other endeavor in which there is no chance that it will succeed.
- The bus was oppressively warm and the air-conditioning was fighting a losing battle with the heat.1984, Lucy Gore, Diary Of A Working Mum, page 18
- Synonyms:
- fight a rearguard action
Synonyms of fight a losing battle
Forms of fight a losing battle
| third-person singular present | fights a losing battle |
|---|---|
| present participle | fighting a losing battle |
| past participle | fought a losing battle |
| past | fought a losing battle |
Questions about fight a losing battle
- What does fight a losing battle mean?
- Fight a losing battle means to continue to wage war when it is clear that one is not going to win.
- What part of speech is fight a losing battle?
- Fight a losing battle is a verb.
- What is the past tense of fight a losing battle?
- The past tense of fight a losing battle is fought a losing battle.
Words near fight a losing battle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fight a losing battle (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-fight a losing battle.ogg.
Cite this entry: “fight a losing battle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fight_a_losing_battle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.