noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of battlefield
Explanation
A place where fighting happens, especially during a war, can be called a battlefield. If you visit Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, you'll see a famous Civil War battlefield. There are many Civil War battlefields in the southern United States, and New England is the site of several Revolutionary War battlefields. While the physical land where a battle is fought is the most common kind of battlefield, there are also figurative battlefields, like a classroom in which competing ideas are angrily hashed out. The equivalent word in Old English is wælstow, or "slaughter-place."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Other uses included using AI to study battlefield tactics that could lead to reduced casualties, an ex-ISWAP militant said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
Converting these “e-points” into money via the country’s Delta battlefield management network, brigades can then quickly purchase new systems directly from manufacturers, through a classified online marketplace.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
Historians at the Commission say most of the 9,909 men previously omitted from commemoration records were casualties who died of injuries away from the battlefield.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
Artificial-intelligence systems and chips designed for civilian use are increasingly being deployed both on the battlefield and in military headquarters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
She's still clinging to the side of her mountain, just like I'm still wandering lost in my battlefield.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
"UK soldiers will be better prepared for modern warfare with a new training system that uses AI, advanced analytics and virtual environments to ready troops for rapidly evolving battlefields," it said.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
On 16th-century battlefields, once-unstoppable armored cavalrymen were overwhelmed by groups of foot soldiers armed with long-barreled guns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
They came to watch the sun as it set over the graveyard and battlefields behind it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Ukrainian researchers took soil samples from battlefields, in craters and around burned out tanks.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
Many of the strikers were men recently returned from the battlefields of Europe.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
