strike back

phrasal verb

struck back; struck back also stricken back; striking back; strikes back

: to try to hurt someone who has hurt one or treated one badly

When he called her lazy, she immediately struck back by calling him fat.

—often + at

He angrily struck back at his critics.

Examples of strike back in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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Chinese officials struck back at the United States on Tuesday, announcing tariffs on select American goods, escalating the prospect of a trade war just days into President Donald Trump's second term. —

Kevin Shalvey, ABC News, 4 Feb. 2025 The result, however, was a stake through the heart of global trade: European countries struck back with their own tariffs. —

Kelly Phillips Erb, Forbes, 3 Feb. 2025 Today, OpenAI struck back with the public release of o3-mini, its latest simulated reasoning model and the first of its kind the company will offer for free to all users without a subscription. —

Ars Technica, 31 Jan. 2025 Moscow struck back at the ICC for its 2023 warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin by issuing a warrant of its own for Khan. —

Reuters, NBC News, 24 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for strike back