pitched battle

plural pitched battles

1. governmentA battle which opposing forces anticipate and commit to fighting; a sustained, intense and confrontational fight.

   Have I not in a pitched battle heard / Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets' clang?

   c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]

   3 more examples

   That barbarian warriors, led by barbarian chiefs, should win a pitched battle against Greek valor guided by Greek science, seemed as incredible as it would now seem that the Burmese or the Siamese should, in the open plain, put to flight an equal number of the best English troops.

   1834–1838 (date written), Thomas Babington Macaulay, “The Prophecy of Capys”, in Lays of Ancient Rome, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 170

   In pitched battle the Romans knew that they were unlikely to experience a reverse (Tac. Ann. I.68); when it came, defeat by a foreign enemy was rarely in pitched battle, but was usually as a result of an attack or ambush on an army on the march.

   2007, Philip Sabin, Hans van Wees, Michael Whitby, editors, The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare, volume II, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 125

   In an earlier phase of the war, Ukraine’s leadership had been more equivocal about pitched battles like Bakhmut.

   2023 January 9, Andrew E. Kramer, Nicole Tung, “Without Hesitation, Ukraine Goes Toe to Toe With Russia in Bakhmut”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Synonyms: set-piece battle

2. broadlyAn intense, rancorous argument or confrontation.

   At every post where we changed horses and drivers, we had a pitched battle with the driver for more money than we had been told was the regular rate.

   1889, Harriet Beecher Stowe, chapter 13, in The Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe

   Synonyms: blow-up, brouhaha, shouting match