combat
English edit
Etymology edit
16th century, borrowed from Middle French combat, deverbal from Old French combatre, from Vulgar Latin *combattere, from Latin com- (“with”) + battuere (“to beat, strike”).
Pronunciation edit
- Noun:
- Verb:
- Rhymes: -æt
Noun edit
combat (countable and uncountable, plural combats)
- A battle, a fight (often one in which weapons are used).
- 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- "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; […]."
- 1950 September 1, Harry S. Truman, 0:56 from the start, in MP72-73 Korea and World Peace: President Truman Reports to the People[1], Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162:
- In less than eight weeks, five divisions of United States troops have moved into combat, some of them from bases more than 6,000 miles away. More men are on the way. Fighting in difficult country under every kind of hardship, American troops have held back overwhelming numbers of the communist invaders.
- 2012 March, 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.
- a struggle for victory
Derived terms edit
- armored combat
- close combat
- combat air patrol
- combatant
- combat armor suit
- combat armour suit
- combat boot
- combat box
- combat drone
- combat engineer
- combat fatigue
- combat fatigues
- combative
- combat loading
- combat log
- combat pants
- combat pay
- combat sport
- combat stress reaction
- combat trousers
- combat zone
- mortal combat
- mutual combat
- postcombat
- post-combat
- pre-combat
- single combat
- stage combat
Related terms edit
Translations edit
a battle; a fight
|
Verb edit
combat (third-person singular simple present combats, present participle combatting or combating, simple past and past participle combatted or combated)
- (transitive) To fight; to struggle against.
- It has proven very difficult to combat drug addiction.
- (intransitive) To fight (with); to struggle for victory (against).
- 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes:
- To combat with a blind man I disdain.
Translations edit
to fight; to struggle for victory
|
Anagrams edit
Catalan edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
Deverbal from combatre. First attested in 1490.[1]
Noun edit
combat m (plural combats)
Etymology 2 edit
Verb edit
combat
- inflection of combatre:
References edit
- ^ “combat”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
Further reading edit
- “combat” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “combat” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “combat” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
French edit
Etymology edit
From combattre.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
combat m (plural combats)
- combat (hostile interaction)
- (figuratively) combat (contest; competition)
- (in the plural) battle; military combat
Derived terms edit
Verb edit
combat
Further reading edit
- “combat”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Norman edit
Etymology edit
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Noun edit
combat m (plural combats)
Romanian edit
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
combat
- inflection of combate: