combat

English

Etymology

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

• Noun:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmˌbæt/, (obsolete) /ˈkʌmˌbæt/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmˌbæt/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Verb:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmˌbæt/, (obsolete) /ˈkʌmˌbæt/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /kəmˈbæt/, /ˈkɑmˌbæt/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æt

Noun

combat (countable and uncountable, plural combats)

1. 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^[2], 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.

2. a struggle for victory

Derived terms

• anticombat
• armored combat
• armoured combat
• close combat
• combatable
• combat air patrol
• combatant
• combat armor suit
• combat armour suit
• combatative
• 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
• combatworthy
• combat zone
• intercombat
• mortal combat
• mutual combat
• noncombat
• postcombat
• post-combat
• precombat
• pre-combat
• single combat
• stage combat

 

Related terms

• abate
• abattoir
• battalion
• batter
• battery
• battle
• debate
• hors de combat
• rebate

 

Translations

a battle; a fight

• Afrikaans: geveg
• Albanian: lufta
• Arabic: قِتَال m (qitāl)

  Hijazi Arabic: قِتال m (gitāl), مُحاربة f (muḥāraba)

• Armenian: մարտ (hy) (mart), կռիվ (hy) (kṙiv)
• Bulgarian: би́тка (bg) f (bítka), сраже́ние (bg) n (sražénie), борба́ (bg) f (borbá)
• Catalan: batalla (ca) f, combat (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 戰鬥／战斗 (zh) (zhàndòu), 奮鬥／奋斗 (zh) (fèndòu)

• Czech: boj (cs) m
• Danish: kamp (da), slag (da), slagsmål (da), træfning (da)
• Dutch: gevecht (nl), kamp (nl), slag (nl), strijd (nl), treffen (nl), veldslag (nl)
• Esperanto: batalo (eo)
• Estonian: lahing (et)
• Faroese: bardagi
• Finnish: taistelu (fi), kamppailu (fi)
• French: combat (fr) m, bataille (fr) f, lutte (fr) f
• Galician: combate (gl) m
• German: Kampf (de) m, Schlacht (de) f, Gefecht (de) n
• Greek: αγώνας (el) m (agónas), πάλη (el) f (páli), μάχη (el) (máchi)

  Ancient: μάχη f (mákhē); (epic) δηϊοτής f (dēïotḗs), ὑσμίνη f (husmínē)

• Hebrew: נפתולים m
• Hindi: संग्राम (hi) (saṅgrām), युद्ध (hi) (yuddh), रण (hi) (raṇ)
• Icelandic: slagsmál
• Ido: kombato (io)
• Italian: battaglia (it)
• Japanese: 戦闘 (ja) (せんとう, sentō)
• Korean: 싸움 (ko) (ssaum), 전투(戰鬪) (ko) (jeontu), 교전(交戰) (ko) (gyojeon)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: کارزان (ckb) (karzan)

  Northern Kurdish: ceng (ku), şer (ku), şerr (ku)

• Latin: proelium (la), pugna (la)
• Macedonian: би́тка f (bítka), бој m (boj), бо́рба f (bórba)
• Norman: combat m (Jersey)
• Norwegian: slagsmål (no)
• Old English: gūþ f, gefeoht n, camp m
• Ottoman Turkish: صاواش (savaş), ناورد (naverd), پرخاش (perhaş)
• Papiamentu: bataya, bringamentu, pelea, peleya
• Plautdietsch: Schlacht f
• Polish: walka (pl) f
• Portuguese: batalha (pt), combate (pt), luta (pt), peleja (pt), pugna (pt)
• Romanian: luptă (ro), bătaie (ro) f
• Russian: би́тва (ru) f (bítva), бой (ru) m (boj), борьба́ (ru) f (borʹbá), сраже́ние (ru) n (sražénije)
• Sanskrit: रण (sa) m (raṇa)
• Scottish Gaelic: cath, còmhrag f
• Serbo-Croatian: borbena (sh) f
• Sicilian: battagghia (scn) f, lutta (scn) f
• Spanish: batalla (es) f, acción (es) f, combate (es) m
• Sranan Tongo: feti
• Swahili: mashindano (sw)
• Swedish: kamp (sv) c, batalj (sv) c, slag (sv) n, slagsmål (sv) n, strid (sv) c
• Tarifit: amenɣi m
• Telugu: పోటీ పడు (pōṭī paḍu)
• Turkish: muharebe (tr), boğuşmak (tr)
• Welsh: brwydr (cy) f
• West Frisian: fjochtsjen, striid (fy)

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; to struggle against.

   It has proven very difficult to combat drug addiction.

2. (intransitive) To fight (with); to struggle for victory (against).
   • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes:

     To combat with a blind man I disdain.

Translations

to fight; to struggle for victory

• Arabic: قَاتَلَ (ar) (qātala)

  Hijazi Arabic: قاتَل (gātal)

• Bulgarian: боря се (borja se), сражавам се (sražavam se)
• Catalan: combatre (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 反對／反对 (zh) (fǎnduì)

• Czech: bojovat (cs)
• Dutch: vechten (nl)
• Finnish: taistella (fi), kamppailla (fi)
• French: combattre (fr)
• Galician: combater (gl)
• German: kämpfen (de) (gegen, mit), bekämpfen (de)
• Greek: πολεμώ (el) (polemó), καταπολεμώ (el) (katapolemó)
• Hindi: संग्राम (hi) (saṅgrām), युद्ध (hi) (yuddh)
• Italian: combattere (it)
• Latin: proelior
• Macedonian: се бо́ри (se bóri)
• Occitan: combatre (oc)
• Polish: zwalczać (pl)
• Portuguese: combater (pt)
• Romanian: combate (ro)
• Sicilian: cummàttiri (scn)
• Spanish: combatir (es)
• Swedish: bekämpa (sv)
• Welsh: brwydro (cy)

Anagrams

• M.B. coat, tombac

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kumˈbat]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [komˈbat]
• Rhymes: -at

Etymology 1

Deverbal from combatre. First attested in 1490.

Noun

combat m (plural combats)

1. combat

Etymology 2

Verb

combat

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

Further reading

• “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

Etymology

From combattre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.ba/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: combats

Noun

combat m (plural combats)

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

Derived terms

• avion de combat
• branle-bas de combat
• char de combat
• combat à mort
• combat de coqs
• combat rapproché
• hors de combat

 

Verb

combat

1. third-person singular present indicative of combattre

Further reading

• “combat”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Norman

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

combat m (plural combats)

1. (Jersey) combat

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [komˈbat]

Verb

combat

1. inflection of combate:
   1. first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. third-person plural present indicative