hors de combat
Americanadverb
adjective
Etymology
Origin of hors de combat
literally: out of (the) fight
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.
“They’re considered hors de combat, or noncombatants — effectively prisoners of war,” Dr. Haar said.
From New York Times ● Nov. 20, 2022
With his king hors de combat, Niemann finally runs out of defensive resources after 67. h5 gxh5!
From Washington Times ● Sep. 13, 2022
People who are not actually fighting, she explains, are "hors de combat" - or "out of action" - and international law is very clear about how they should be treated.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2017
One can understand a reluctance to dwell on Mailer’s persistence through the nineties and beyond—his endless C.I.A. novel, “Harlot’s Ghost”; the swollen Picasso biography—but he was hardly hors de combat.
From The New Yorker ● May 25, 2015
With all our guides hors de combat, Hutchison stepped up to fill the leadership vacuum.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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.
