come out swinging

also come out fighting

to strongly defend yourself or something you believe in Both candidates came out swinging in the televised debate Sunday night.

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Hafsah	-	Arabic
Henrietta	hen-ree-ET-ə (English)	English, Hungarian, Finnish, Swedish, Dutch
Zena	['zi:nə]
Blythe	BLIEDH	English (Rare)
Maeleth	-	Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
Theutrich	-	Ancient Germanic