fought back

Verb

fight back (third-person singular simple present fights back, present participle fighting back, simple past and past participle fought back)

1. (intransitive) To defend oneself by fighting.
   • The bully hadn't been expecting his victim to fight back, and now the bully has quadriplegia.
   1. (intransitive) To counterattack (counterstrike); to resist an attack or respond after one.
      • During the Pearl Harbor attack, the U.S. Navy began fighting back, and it wouldn't stop until August 1945.
2. (transitive) to repress; to struggle to repress.
   • fight back tears
3. (intransitive) To overturn a losing deficit.