Combatant

/ˈkɒm.bə.tənt/ · noun

Meaning

A person engaged in combat, often armed..

Definitions by Sense

1. A person engaged in combat, often armed.
2. Contending; disposed to contend.
3. Involving combat.
4. Alternative form of combattant (“in heraldry: in a fighting position”).

Example Sentences

Gladiators were combatants who fought to the death to entertain the public.

Come hither, you that would be combatants: Henceforth I charge you, as you love our favour, Quite to forget this quarrel and the cause.

On the passage, one day, for the diversion of those gentlemen, all the boys were called on the quarter deck, and were paired proportionably, and then made to fight; after which the gentlemen gave the combatants from five to nine shillings each.

If any combatant was struck down, and unable to recover his feet, his squire or page might enter the lists, and drag his master out of the press; but in that case the knight was adjudged vanquished […]

“[…] Don’t you realize that alcohol is an essential part of heroism? The combatant and the drunkard are brothers, you genius.”

The leading voices of the womanosphere are using a similar strategy. As Brittany Hugoboom put it in an op–ed for the rightwing outlet Quillette: “Conservatives will never win if they imagine themselves as combatants atop defensive battlements, hurling abuse on the mass media. We need to involve ourselves in the creation of pop culture.”

Their valours are not yet so combatant, Or truly antagonistick, as to fight;

He wished he were in a combatant service; he wanted to fight, fight.

Synonyms for combatant

Antonyms for combatant

Related Words

Word Forms

• combatants
• more combatant
• most combatant

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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