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Fight vs Row - What's the difference?

fight | row |

Row is a synonym of fight.



In intransitive terms the difference between fight and row

is that fight is to strive for; to campaign or contend for success while row is to argue noisily.

In transitive terms the difference between fight and row

is that fight is to try to overpower; to fiercely counteract while row is to transport in a boat propelled with oars.

fight

English

Verb

  • (label) To contend in physical conflict, either singly or in war, battle etc.
  • (label) To strive for; to campaign or contend for success.
  • * , chapter=7
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern. Then, for a jiffy, I hung on and fought for breath.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-07-05, volume=412, issue=8894, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Freedom fighter , passage=[Edmund] Burke continued to fight for liberty later on in life. He backed Americans in their campaign for freedom from British taxation. He supported Catholic freedoms and freer trade with Ireland, in spite of his constituents’ ire. He wanted more liberal laws on the punishment of debtors.}}
  • (label) To conduct or engage in (battle, warfare etc.).
  • * (1800-1859)
  • He had to fight his way through the world.
  • * Bible, iv. 7
  • I have fought a good fight.
  • (label) To engage in combat with; to oppose physically, to contest with.
  • (label) To try to overpower; to fiercely counteract.
  • To cause to fight; to manage or manoeuvre in a fight.
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * fight a losing battle * fight back * fight fire with fire * fightest * fight shy of * fight the good fight * fight tooth and nail

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An occasion of fighting.
  • (archaic) A battle between opposing armies.
  • A physical confrontation or combat between two or more people or groups.
  • (sports) A boxing or martial arts match.
  • A conflict, possibly nonphysical, with opposing ideas or forces; strife.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=18 citation , passage=‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= A new prescription , passage=As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs.}}
  • The will or ability to fight.
  • (obsolete) A screen for the combatants in ships.
  • * Dryden
  • Up with your fights , and your nettings prepare.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * bullfight * bun fight * cockfight * dogfight * fight or flight * fighter * fighting * fight scene * fight the good fight * fist fight * food fight * footfight * gunfight * pillow fight * prize fight * straight fight * sword fight * thumb fight

    row

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) .

    Alternative forms

    * (dialectal)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A line of objects, often regularly spaced, such as seats in a theatre, vegetable plants in a garden etc.
  • * Bible, 1 (w) vii. 4
  • And there were windows in three rows .
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • The bright seraphim in burning row .
  • * , chapter=5
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.}}
  • A line of entries in a table, etc., going from left to right, as opposed to a column going from top to bottom.
  • Synonyms
    * (line of objects) line, sequence, series, succession, tier (of seats) * (in a table) line
    Antonyms
    * column
    Derived terms
    * long row to hoe

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) . Compare West Frisian roeie, Dutch roeien, Danish ro. More at rudder.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (weightlifting) An exercise performed with a pulling motion of the arms towards the back.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (transitive, or, intransitive, nautical) To propel (a boat or other craft) over water using oars.
  • To transport in a boat propelled with oars.
  • to row the captain ashore in his barge
  • To be moved by oars.
  • The boat rows easily.

    Etymology 3

    Unclear; some suggest it is a , verb.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A noisy argument.
  • * (Byron)
  • * , chapter=22
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=18 citation , passage=‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?}}
  • A continual loud noise.
  • Synonyms
    * (noisy argument) argument, disturbance, fight, fracas, quarrel, shouting match, slanging match * (continual loud noise) din, racket

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to argue noisily
  • Synonyms
    * (argue noisily) argue, fight