hit back

verb

hit back; hitting back; hits back
informal
: to attack or criticize someone after being attacked or criticized by them
Weary of her rival's accusations, the candidate hit back with an aggressive ad campaign.
The team hit back with a touchdown of their own.
often + at
The Senator hit back at his critics.

Examples of hit back in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Trump aides are engaging and even hitting back on the staff stories, including a subtweet from Dan Scavino that made the rounds among DC Republicans. Shelby Talcott, semafor.com, 21 Aug. 2026 Beijing and Hong Kong had hit back at Panama over its takeover of the ports. ABC News, 19 Aug. 2026 Amodei hits back Anthropic denies Amodei ever said anything like what Baker claims. Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 18 Aug. 2026 Meta hit back hard in its own opening statements Tuesday afternoon, saying many of the memos and reports the states used to paint them as rapacious were actually evidence of the company’s efforts to protect its youngest users. Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for hit back

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Cite this Entry

“Hit back.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hit%20back. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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