UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament

Sense 1: to clash severely, struggle, fight

Semantic entry: 39.23

Semantic domains: Hostility, Strife

Subdomains: Strife, Struggle

Definition: serious conflict, either physical or non-physical, but clearly intensive and bitter

Notes: In order to suggest something of the intensity of conflict in μάχομαι and μάχη, it may be useful in some instances to employ similes in the rendering of these terms, for example, ‘they opposed one another just as though they were actually fighting one another’ or ‘they are fighting, as it were.’