How to Use fend off in a Sentence

fend off

phrasal verb
Definition of fend offnext
  • Redmayne said he had been advised during his training how to potentially use a phone to fend off an attack, which sparked a bit of laughter.
    — Lisa Respers France, CNN, 28 Oct. 2024
  • The Kings built up a big lead and then made enough plays down the stretch to fend off a comeback by the Hawks.
    — Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 23 Jan. 2024
  • Free 7-Eleven Slurpees are here just in time to fend off this summer's heat wave.
    — Mike Snider, USA TODAY, 10 July 2023
  • Plus, both bags are fully lined to fend off makeup mishaps.
    — Toni Sutton, Peoplemag, 6 May 2024
  • Ceesay added a foul shot and the Lions fended off New Town’s last chance in the final seconds.
    — Jake Shindel, Baltimore Sun, 13 Jan. 2024
  • Saudi Crown just could not muster the fuel to fend off Ushba Tesoro.
    — Guy Martin, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024
  • Elon Musk has described Twitter Blue as a way to boost revenue and fend off trolls and bots.
    — Minyvonne Burke, NBC News, 22 July 2023
  • But good work by the X team fending off the attacks and fixing our mistakes!
    — CBS News, 13 Aug. 2024
  • Their two front pincers can be used to attack prey and fend off predators.
    — Scott Travers, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024
  • One way of achieving this is to file more patents that fend off cheaper copy cats from launching.
    — Bruce Gil, Quartz, 8 May 2024
  • Most antivirus tools get two chances to fend off a malware download.
    — PCMAG, 14 June 2024
  • Trump is scrambling to fend off the growing pile of indictments.
    — Tori Otten, The New Republic, 21 July 2023
  • To add to its woes, the Covid-19 pandemic didn’t help the retailer fend off the rapid decline of shopping malls.
    — Francisco Velasquez, Quartz, 21 May 2024
  • For the 49ers, fending off that threat is a serious problem.
    — Bygeoff Colvin, Fortune, 4 June 2024
  • Defensive walls fended off the flow, but the molten rock did cut a hot water pipeline and two roads.
    — Tom Yulsman, Discover Magazine, 13 Feb. 2024
  • The city recommends that people fend off the summer heat by jumping in the water.
    — Hannah Poukish, Sacramento Bee, 3 July 2024
  • To fend off Putin, the United States and its partners should think of the war in similarly global terms.
    — Michael Kimmage and Hanna Notte, Foreign Affairs, 1 Sep. 2023
  • The court said these partnerships helped to fend off rivals in the search space and extend its dominance.
    — Morgan Chittum, CNBC, 6 Aug. 2024
  • Can the sports leagues fend off the sort of corruption that resulted in nationwide bans on sports betting in the past?
    — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2024
  • But the key to the offense is probably Watson, who has fended off challenges for his job each of the last two seasons.
    — Creg Stephenson | [email protected], al, 2 Aug. 2023
  • That meant finding a way to play their game — a forecheck, grinding, puck possession-heavy game — and fend off the Rangers’ early pressure.
    — Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 25 May 2024
  • But in the same month, the building owner fended off the foreclosure — for now — through the bankruptcy filing.
    — George Avalos, The Mercury News, 31 July 2024
  • Tourists on a bear viewing tour in Alaska had to fend off a charging brown bear recently by yelling and staying in a tight group.
    — Lorenzo Reyes, USA TODAY, 27 June 2023
  • Alexander led his armored warriors up a hill fending off a hail of arrows.
    — Joshua Hammer, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 May 2024
  • The San Diego State grad sold shades out of a backpack on the boardwalk more than a decade ago, trying to fend off a ramen-noodles existence.
    — Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Sep. 2023
  • Then Shadow responds with shrieks and screams, likely to fend off the raven from his territory.
    — Helena Wegner, Sacramento Bee, 5 Mar. 2024
  • Dempsey has been with the program for three seasons, earning his first action in the secondary last year, and will have to fend off Mayes, Diamond and Lee.
    — Evan Dudley, al, 18 July 2023
  • Haim Peri, a long-time peace activist, fended off the attackers long enough for his wife to hide, evading capture.
    — Isabel Coles, WSJ, 26 Nov. 2023
  • Plants spend all spring and summer fending off constant attacks by a horde of insects and disease pathogens.
    — Paul Cappiello, The Courier-Journal, 13 Sep. 2024
  • While driving forward and backward into the police cars, Johnson attempted to fend off the three officers trying to remove him from the vehicle.
    — Olivia Rose, The Arizona Republic, 24 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fend off.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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