noun
adjective
Usage
What does combatant mean? A combatant is one of the sides engaged in combat—active fighting.In war, enemy combatants are the opposing sides in the war or battle.In boxing and other martial arts, the two fighters can be called combatants.The word combat is sometimes used more broadly or figuratively to refer to active conflict between two people or groups, as in The two corporations are preparing to do combat in the courtroom. The sides in this kind of combat can also be called combatants.Less commonly, combatant can be used as an adjective meaning engaged in fighting. It can also mean inclined to fight, but the word combative is more commonly used in this way.Example: If diplomacy fails, the two nations could become enemy combatants.
Other Word Forms
- precombatant noun
- uncombatant adjective
Etymology
Origin of combatant
1425–75; late Middle English combataunt < Middle French combatant. See combat, -ant
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.
Navy leadership has presented a strategic rationale for larger surface combatants to address evolving threats.
From Los Angeles Times
Over the past few months, a Navy team developed and approved requirements for the new class of large-surface combatants, according to the U.S. official.
“Recent operations from the Red Sea to the Caribbean make the requirement undeniable—our small surface combatant inventory is a third of what we need,” Adm.
Prisoner exchanges are one of the few areas of successful cooperation between Moscow and Kyiv since Russia’s full-blown invasion, with over 10,000 combatants exchanged in that time.
How do grievously wounded combatants power through to achieve extraordinary feats of heroism?
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.
