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Glite Dictionary
to refight

to refight

2 6.3
To fight the same battle, match, or argument again
  • verb
  • /riːˈfaɪt/
translation icon : volver a pelear
  • Those who want to bring it back seem, like the man who wrote to ask about my military career, to be still refighting the Vietnam War.
  • refight the war

And now we're going to refight this over Trans where no, I think you have tremendous opportunities through development to assign behaviors.

Examples

  • But we're refighting it with World War I technology.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • We took to the Mongolian steppe to refight a strange little war from the early 1920s.

    Blog text (9)

  • No one has the stomach anymore to refight the Western culture wars.

    Academic text (2009)

  • English departments need not refight the Western culture wars.

    Academic text (2009)

  • Okay, so we're not going back and refighting old cases?

    On the Basis of Sex (2018)

  • "They also do not want to 'refight' the battles of the 90s.

    Blog text (31)

  • I lay there restlessly, refighting our argument in my head.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • "What we can't afford to do is spend any more time refighting political battles."

    Blog text (20)

  • Here's the point: Team Obama shouldn't be planning to refight the first debate.

    Blog text (33)

  • Many historians believe it is unnecessary to refight the debates surrounding World War II.

Synonyms

to rematch
vsto refight
4 3.5

To play a second game against the same opponent to decide the winner

covers repeated contests and other renewed conflicts beyond arranged games
to relitigate
vsto refight
  • Formal
3 8.0

To argue again about a decision that was already settled

refers to repeating disputes more generally not only reexamining decided issues
to reargue
vsto refight
  • Jargon
1 6.6

To present a case again in court after new facts appear

covers repeating conflicts, contests, or arguments outside just legal cases
to reassail
vsto refight
  • Archaic
9.9

To attack again after an earlier attempt

applies to repeated contests, conflicts, or arguments beyond one attack type

Antonyms

to settle
596 3.3

To end an argument by agreement or decision

Surface Forms

refight infinitive
refighting present participle
refights third person singular
refought past
refought past participle

Morphology

refight = fight (transparent) = re + fight

The meaning is a straightforward repetition of the action 'fight', which is exactly what the prefix 're-' regularly signals.

Etymology

The word refight is made of re- meaning 'again' and fight, so it means to fight again, like a sports rematch or arguing the same point once more.