combat

noun

1. 1

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

   "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;[…]."

   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.

   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. 2

   a struggle for victory

verb

1. 1

   To fight; to struggle against.

   It has proven very difficult to combat drug addiction.

   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.

2. 2

   To fight (with); to struggle for victory (against).

   To combat with a blind man I disdain.

Forms

plural

combats

past tense

combated, combatted

past participle

combated, combatted

present participle

combating, combatting

third person singular

combats