fight a losing battle
English
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Verb
editfight a losing battle (third-person singular simple present fights a losing battle, present participle fighting a losing battle, simple past and past participle fought a losing battle)
- To continue to wage war when it is clear that one is not going to win.
- (idiomatic) To try to do something so difficult that it will probably end in failure.
- 1984, Lucy Gore, Diary Of A Working Mum, page 18:
- The bus was oppressively warm and the air-conditioning was fighting a losing battle with the heat.