fighter

From Middle English fightere, fyghtor, feghtere, feghtare, fiȝtare, fiȝtere, from Old English feohtere. Equivalent to fight +‎ -er.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfaɪ.tə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfaɪtɚ/, [ˈfaɪ̯ɾɚ]

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪtə(ɹ)

fighter (plural fighters)

1. A person who fights; a combatant.
2. A warrior; a fighting soldier.
3. A pugnacious, competitive person.
4. (eulogistic) A person with a strong determination to resist protracted or severe adversity, especially illness.
   • 2011, Lenka, Ben H. Allen (lyrics and music), “Roll with the Punches”, in Two‎, performed by Lenka:

     Little weapons / Over the phone / They like to threaten / The life that I know / They say "Get over here and get into the ring" / But I'm not really much of a fighter

5. A class of fixed-wing aircraft whose primary purpose is to shoot down other aircraft, sometimes accompanied by a secondary purpose of attacking ground targets.
   1. (science fiction, by extension) A starfighter
      • 1990, Dan Simmons, The Fall of Hyperion, New York: Doubleday, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 32:

        Task Force 42 consisted of almost two dozen main line spinships, including the carriers Olympus Shadow and Neptune Station. Each of these can launch more than a hundred fighters or ALRs.

      • 2007 September 25, Bungie, Halo 3, Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox 360, level/area: Terminal Six (Legendary):

        I toss around [37,654 tonne] dreadnoughts like they were fighters; dimly aware of the former crews being crushed to liquescence.

6. A participant in boxing or any martial art.
7. (colloquial) A firefighter.
8. (video games) A game with a focus on physical combat.
   • 2004, Simon Carless, Gaming Hacks, page 59:

     Still, it's excellent software, especially for one-on-one fighting titles such as the King Of Fighters series, classic Street Fighter II variants, and newer one-on-one fighters such as Garou.

• warrior, combatant, soldier

• (aircraft): fighter-bomber, fighter-interceptor, fighter plane, foo fighter, fighter jet, stealth fighter, strike fighter

• combatant

• freight, refight

fighter

1. indefinite plural of fight