noncombatant

[non-kuh m-bat-nt, non-kom-buh-tnt]

See more synonyms for noncombatant on Thesaurus.com

noun

a person connected with a military force in some capacity other than that of a fighter, as a surgeon or chaplain.
a person who is not directly involved in combat; a civilian in wartime.

adjective

not constituting, designed for, or engaged in combat.

Origin of noncombatant

First recorded in 1805–15; non- + combatant

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for non-combatant

Contemporary Examples

But Broyles is too good here, and admits that women too feel the pull of war by being exposed to it, even as a non-combatant.
War Is Hell and Such Good Fun
Don Gomez
November 11, 2014
It has steadfastly refused to release its own estimates of non-combatant deaths in drone strikes, figures that it says classified.
U.S. Drone Program Needs to Be Accompanied by Hard Facts on Civilian Deaths
Daniel Klaidman
November 8, 2013
Although there are more NATO troops in Afghanistan conducting more missions than ever before, non-combatant deaths are down.
Petraeus vs. the Mafia
Peter Galbraith
June 24, 2010

Historical Examples

Anything that is calmly facing them becomes at once a non-combatant.
Johnny Bear
E. T. Seton
Hellenic war ethics: non-combatant tillers of the soil to be let alone.
Cyropaedia
Xenophon
It was useless for his attendant friends to assert that he had been a non-combatant.
Robert Louis Stevenson
Margaret Moyes Black
Did the Imperial and Royal authorities regard him as a non-combatant?
The Birth of Yugoslavia, Volume 1
Henry Baerlein
The doctor was to go, as a matter of course, but he was to be a non-combatant.
Under the Meteor Flag
Harry Collingwood

British Dictionary definitions for non-combatant

noncombatant

noun

a civilian in time of war
a member of the armed forces whose duties do not include fighting, such as a chaplain or surgeon

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for non-combatant

n.

also noncombatant, 1809, from non- + combatant. A word from the Napoleonic wars.

noncombatant

Origin of .css-1fxfie5{font-size:22px;}@media (max-width:768px){.css-1fxfie5{font-size:18px;margin:0 10px 10px 0;word-break:break-all;word-wrap:break-word;-webkit-hyphens:auto;-moz-hyphens:auto;-ms-hyphens:auto;hyphens:auto;line-height:22px;}}noncombatant

Examples from the Web for non-combatant

Contemporary Examples

But Broyles is too good here, and admits that women too feel the pull of war by being exposed to it, even as a non-combatant.

It has steadfastly refused to release its own estimates of non-combatant deaths in drone strikes, figures that it says classified.

Although there are more NATO troops in Afghanistan conducting more missions than ever before, non-combatant deaths are down.

Historical Examples

Anything that is calmly facing them becomes at once a non-combatant.

Hellenic war ethics: non-combatant tillers of the soil to be let alone.

It was useless for his attendant friends to assert that he had been a non-combatant.

Did the Imperial and Royal authorities regard him as a non-combatant?

The doctor was to go, as a matter of course, but he was to be a non-combatant.

noncombatant

Word Origin and History for non-combatant

n.

Origin of noncombatant