Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Combat

Com′bat

(? or ?; 277)
,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Combated
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Combating
.]
[F.
combattre
; pref.
com-
+
battre
to beat, fr. L.
battuere
to strike. See
Batter
.]
To struggle or contend, as with an opposing force; to fight.
To
combat
with a blind man I disdain.
Milton.
After the fall of the republic, the Romans
combated
only for the choice of masters.
Gibbon.

Com′bat

,
Verb.
T.
To fight with; to oppose by force, argument, etc.; to contend against; to resist.
When he the ambitious Norway
combated
.
Shakespeare
And
combated
in silence all these reasons.
Milton.
Syn. – To fight against; resist; oppose; withstand; oppugn; antagonize; repel; resent.

Com′bat

,
Noun.
[Cf. F.
combat
.]
1.
A fight; a contest of violence; a struggle for supremacy.
My courage try by
combat
, if thou dar’st.
Shakespeare
The noble
combat
that 'twixt joy and sorrow was fought in Paulina.
Shakespeare
2.
(Mil.)
An engagement of no great magnitude; or one in which the parties engaged are not armies.
Syn. – A battle; engagement; conflict; contest; contention; struggle; fight, strife. See
Battle
,
Contest
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Combat

COMBAT

, v.i.
1.
To fight; to struggle or contend with an opposing force.
Pardon me; I will not combat in my shirt.
This word is particularly used to denote private contest, or the fighting of two persons in a duel; but it is used in a general sense for the contention of bodies of men, nations, armies, or any species of animals.
After the fall of the republic, the Romans comabated only for the choice of maters.
2.
To act in opposition.
It is followed by with before the person, and for before the thing sought.
A combats with B for his right.

COMBAT

, v.t.
1.
To fight with; to oppose by force; as, to combat an antagonist.
2.
To contend against; to oppose; to resist; as, to combat arguments or opinions.

COMBAT

, n.
1.
A fighting; a struggling to resist, overthrow or conquer; contest by force; engagement; battle; as the combat of armies.
2.
A duel; a fighting between two men; formerly, a formal trail of a doubtful cause, or decision of a controversy between two persons, by swords or batons.

Definition 2024


combat

combat

English

Noun

combat (countable and uncountable, plural combats)

  1. A battle, a fight (often one in which weapons are used); a struggle for victory.
    • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter VIII”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:
      "My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects; []."
    • 2012 March 1, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 87:
      Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time. Scurvy and other diseases ran rampant, killing more seamen each year than all other causes combined, including combat.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

combat (third-person singular simple present combats, present participle combatting or combating, simple past and past participle combatted or combated)

  1. (transitive) To fight with; to struggle for victory against.
    • Milton
      To combat with a blind man I disdain.

Translations

Anagrams


Catalan

Noun

combat m (plural combats)

  1. combat

Verb

combat

  1. third-person singular present indicative form of combatre
  2. second-person singular imperative form of combatre

French

Etymology

From combattre.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kɔ̃.ba/
  • Homophone: combats

Noun

combat m (plural combats)

  1. combat (hostile interaction)
  2. (figuratively) combat (contest; competition)
  3. (in the plural) battle; military combat

Verb

combat

  1. third-person singular present indicative of combattre

Norman

Noun

combat m (plural combats)

  1. (Jersey) combat