Meaning & use
fend for yourself
Last updated
Meanings
phraseidiom
To take care of your own needs, such as food, safety and money, without relying on anyone else.
Grammar: The pronoun matches the subject: I fend for myself, they fend for themselves.
Patterns
- fend for yourself
- leave someone to fend for themselves
When her parents moved abroad, she had to fend for herself at nineteen.
The campers were left to fend for themselves when the guide fell ill.
You are old enough to fend for yourself in the kitchen.
phraseidiom
To manage in a difficult situation by relying on your own wits against competitors or threats, with no protection.
Grammar: Often used about animals or groups who get no help: the chicks fend for themselves.
Patterns
- fend for yourself against something
Young turtles must fend for themselves as soon as they hatch.
Small shops have to fend for themselves against the big chains.
The refugees were left to fend for themselves in the cold.
Word forms
| third person singular | fends for himself/herself/itself |
|---|---|
| past tense | fended for yourself |
| -ing form | fending for yourself |
Common combinations
- leave someone to fend for themselves
- The company left its staff to fend for themselves during the move.
- learn to fend for yourself
- Moving out taught him to fend for himself.
- be left to fend for yourself
- The children were left to fend for themselves for a week.
- have to fend for yourself
- At the buffet, you will have to fend for yourself.
- able to fend for yourself
- The kitten was old enough to be able to fend for itself.
Synonyms and how they differ
- look after yourself
- Look after yourself is gentler and can be said as advice, while fend for yourself stresses that nobody else will help.
- stand on your own two feet
- This idiom focuses on being independent and mature, with less sense of hardship.
- shift for yourself
- Shift for yourself means the same but is old-fashioned and rarely heard now.
- cope alone
- Cope alone stresses managing a problem, not meeting your basic daily needs.
Opposites
Word family
- fend verb
- to look after yourself, or to push something away as in 'fend off'
- fend off phrasal verb
- to defend yourself against an attack or a question
- self-reliant adjective
- able to manage without help
Commonly confused: fend for yourself or fend off?
fend for yourself vs fend off
Fend off means to keep something away, as in fending off a cold. Fend for yourself means to take care of yourself.
Practice
The baby birds leave the nest early and must ______ themselves.
Choose one answer.
Fend for yourself is the fixed idiom for taking care of your own needs. Fend off means to keep something away, which does not fit with themselves.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fend for yourself”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.