combat

plural combats

1. countableuncountableA battle, a fight (often one in which weapons are used).

   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.

   2012 March 28, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 87

   2 more examples

   "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;[…]."

   1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC

   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.

   1950 September 1, Harry S. Truman, 0:56 from the start, in MP72-73 Korea and World Peace: President Truman Reports to the People, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162

2. countableuncountablea struggle for victory

present singular third person combats · participle present combating · participle present combatting · participle past combated · past combated · participle past combatted · past combatted

1. transitiveTo fight; to struggle against.

   It has proven very difficult to combat drug addiction.

   1 more example

   President Donald Trump’s administration has made combating what it considers anti-Israel and antisemitic movements on college campuses a priority. He signed an executive order during his second week in office to “combat antisemitism” in schools and on university campuses, and on February 3 announced the creation of a multiagency task force to carry out the mandate.

   2025 March 10, Karina Tsui and Elizabeth Wolfe, “Department of Education investigating 60 colleges and universities over antisemitism claims”, in CNN

2. intransitiveTo fight (with); to struggle for victory (against).

   To combat with a blind man I disdain.

   1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes