battle Hear it!

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battle1 definition

bat·tle (bat'l)

noun

  1. a fight, esp. a large-scale engagement, between armed forces on land, at sea, or in the air
  2. armed fighting; combat or war
  3. any fight or struggle; conflict
  4. Archaic a battalion

Etymology: ME & OFr bataille < VL battalia < L battualia, exercises of gladiators and soldiers in fighting and fencing < battuere: see batter

transitive verb battled -·tled, battling -·tling

to oppose as in a battle; fight

intransitive verb

  1. to take part in a battle; fight
  2. to struggle; contend

Related Forms:

battle Idioms

give battle

or do battle
to engage in battle; fight
battle2 definition

bat·tle (bat'l)

transitive verb battled -·tled, battling -·tling

Archaic to build battlements on

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Alternate definitions:
battle Synonyms

battle

n.

  1. An armed encounter

    engagement, fight, action, skirmish, encounter, contest, clash, brush, sortie, pitched battle, battle royal, confrontation, significant contact; see also sense 2, fight 1.

    Famous battles include: Marathon, Salamis, Thermopylae, Syracuse, Plataea, Lake Trasimenus, Cannae, Pharsalus, Philippi, Actium, Hastings, Agincourt, St Albans, Tewkesbury, Bosworth Field, Blenheim, Marston Moor, Culloden Moor, Fontenoy, Austerlitz, Waterloo, Trafalgar, Solferino, Balaklava, Borodino, Sadowa, Plassey, Bunker Hill, Yorktown, New Orleans, First Bull Run (Manassas), Shiloh, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Mukden, Jutland, First and Second Marne, First and Second Ypres, the Somme, Verdun, Chateau-Thierry, Saint-Mihiel, Meuse, Argonne, Battle of France, Battle of Britain, Siege of Leningrad, Stalingrad, Midway, El Alamein, Guadalcanal, Normandy, Battle of the Bulge, Okinawa, Battle of the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, Inchon, Seoul, Chosin Reservoir, Heartbreak Ridge, Pork Chop Hill, Dienbienphu, Tet Offensive.

  2. The progress of a battle, sense 1

    combat, fighting, action, strife, contention, struggle, hostilities, campaign, bombing, bloodshed, clash, onslaught, exchange of blows, onset, barrage, conflict, affray, warfare, fray, assault, human sea, press, crusade, pincer, havoc, carnage, ravage, rage of battle, blitz, blitzkrieg, retreat, tactical retreat, maneuver.

  3. Any fight or struggle

    conflict, struggle, contest, contention; see dispute, fight 1.

battle denotes a conflict between armed forces in a war and implies a large-scale, prolonged contest over a particular area; engagement, a more formal term, stresses the actual meeting of opposing forces, with no restrictive connotation as to duration; a campaign is a series of military operations with a particular objective and may involve a number of battles; encounter usually suggests a chance meeting of hostile forces; skirmish refers to a brief encounter between small detachments; action stresses engagement in active fighting killed in action; combat, the most general of these terms, simply implies armed fighting, without further qualification

give<strong> <em>or</em> </strong>do battle<strong>

fight back, struggle, engage in a battle; see attack 1, 2, fight 2.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

battle Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • fight: Max is a man with his back against the wall, fighting a battle he cannot hope to win.

Preposition: at

  • augusta: Recognizable face on comments from male battle at augusta of saying thank.

Adjective modifier

  • pitched: Many wreckers and not a few Customs men were killed in pitched battles over the booty.

Modifies a noun

  • cruiser: The conference dinner will be held on board the historic WWII battle cruiser HMS Belfast.

Noun used with modifier

  • epic: As armies clash in epic battles, the actions of a handful of bold heroes can turn the tide of war.

Preposition: of

  • bulge: The Battle of the Bulge was Hitler's response to the rapid success achieved by the Allies after the initial D-Day landings.

Preposition: for

  • puck: Now grinders battle for pucks in the corners, elite players see the ice and.. .
battle usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

battle quotes

Now you battle for your all.

-Aeschylus

When the guns begin to rattle And the men to die Does the Goddess of the Battle Smile or sigh?

-Barker, George Granville

   Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.

-Bible (Old Testament)

battle quotes (more)

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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MLA Style

"battle." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 4 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/battle>

APA Style

battle. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 4th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/battle

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