Word.ws English Dictionary

fighting a losing battle

fighting a losing battle is the present participle of fight a losing battle.

Meaning of fight a losing battle

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)

  1. (literally) To continue to wage war when it is clear that one is not going to win.
  2. (figuratively, idiomatic) 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

Questions about fighting a losing battle

What is fighting a losing battle the present participle of?
Fighting a losing battle is the present participle of fight a losing battle.

Words near fighting a losing battle in the dictionary

  1. fightest
  2. fighteth
  3. fightiest
  4. fightin'
  5. fighting
  6. fighting a losing battle
  7. fighting a rearguard action
  8. fighting back
  9. Fighting Bob
  10. fighting chair
  11. fighting chairs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fighting a losing battle (page history and authors); 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.

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