Illustrative Context

The two men are fighting outside.

Target Sense

• The most generic intransitive verb for fighting in the literal sense of physical confrontation with blows.
• In many languages, the equivalent of English intransitive fight may be a reciprocal/reflexive or middle, e.g. French se battre.
• The generic term may also extend to fighting with weapons, and at a distance. Avoid words limited to those specific senses, however. The lexeme selected must be applicable also to physical fighting without weapons.
• Avoid terms for organised warfare, e.g. battle, where different.
• Default register: avoid elevated, literary terms (e.g. combat) and slang (e.g. scrap).
• Avoid more terms specific to particular types of fighting, e.g. wrestle.
• Avoid terms that are predominantly figurative, i.e. ‘fighting’ in the sense of merely competing or striving against others or for a goal, e.g. struggle.