Dictionary

combatant en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈkɒm.bə.tənt/ (UK)
• /ˈkɑm.bə.tənt/ (Canada, US)
• /kəmˈbæ.tənt/ (Canada, US)

Etymology

Inherited from late Middle English combataunt, from Middle French combatant. By surface analysis, combat + -ant. Doublet of combattant.

Meanings

1. Contending; disposed to contend.
   • Their valours are not yet so combatant, Or truly antagonistick, as to fight; 1641, Ben Jonson, The Magnetic Lady, New York: Henry Holt, published 1914, act III, scene 5, page 65:
2. Involving combat.
   • He wished he were in a combatant service; he wanted to fight, fight. 1921, John Dos Passos, Three Soldiers, New York: Modern Library, published 1932, Part Two, Chapter 1, p. 71:
3. (alt-of, alternative) Alternative form of combattant (“in heraldry: in a fighting position”).
   alt of combattant
   • Or, two lions combatant gules, armed and langued (that is, claws and tongue) azure, is borne by the name of Wycombe; Azure , two lions combatant or, by the name of Carter; Azure , two lions combatant guardant argent, by […] 1846, William Newton, Display of Heraldry, page 84:

Forms

Deriveds

countercombatant

combatant en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈkɒm.bə.tənt/ (UK)
• /ˈkɑm.bə.tənt/ (Canada, US)
• /kəmˈbæ.tənt/ (Canada, US)

Etymology

Inherited from late Middle English combataunt, from Middle French combatant. By surface analysis, combat + -ant. Doublet of combattant.

Meanings

1. A person engaged in combat, often armed.
   • 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 […] 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:
   • 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. 1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 3, in The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, volume 1, London: for the author, page 112:
   • Come hither, you that would be combatants: Henceforth I charge you, as you love our favour, Quite to forget this quarrel and the cause. 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
   • Gladiators were combatants who fought to the death to entertain the public.
   • “[…] Don’t you realize that alcohol is an essential part of heroism? The combatant and the drunkard are brothers, you genius.” 1992, Naguib Mahfouz, chapter 48, in William M. Hutchins, Angele Botros Samaan, transl., Sugar Street, New York: Anchor Books, published 1993, page 271:
   • 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.” 2025 April 24, Anna Silman, “Now comes the ‘womanosphere’: the anti-feminist media telling women to be thin, fertile and Republican”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Forms

Deriveds

non-combatant · enemy combatant · contractor combatant · illegal combatant · noncombatant · surface combatant

Synonyms

battler · fighter

Translations (86)

et võitleja (person engaged in combat, often armed) · nn kombattant (person engaged in combat, often armed) · el πολεμιστής (person engaged in combat, often armed) · ru бое́ц (person engaged in combat, often armed) · ru комбата́нт (person engaged in combat, often armed) · uz jangchi (person engaged in combat, often armed) · sq luftëtar (person engaged in combat, often armed) · io kombatanto (person engaged in combat, often armed) · lt kovotoja (person engaged in combat, often armed) · sl borka (person engaged in combat, often armed) · da kombattant (person engaged in combat, often armed) · tg мубориз (person engaged in combat, often armed) · ro combatantă (person engaged in combat, often armed) · et sõdija (person engaged in combat, often armed) · nrf combattant (person engaged in combat, often armed) · pt combatente (person engaged in combat, often armed) · el μαχητής (person engaged in combat, often armed) · bg во́ин (person engaged in combat, often armed) · ms askar tempur (person engaged in combat, often armed) · fi taistelija (person engaged in combat, often armed) · eo batalanto (person engaged in combat, often armed) · cmn 戰鬥員 /战斗员 (person engaged in combat, often armed) · ja 戦闘員 (person engaged in combat, often armed) · nb kombattant (person engaged in combat, often armed) · ur جَن٘گجُو (person engaged in combat, often armed) · lv cīnītājs (person engaged in combat, often armed) · id petempur (person engaged in combat, often armed) · fr combattante (person engaged in combat, often armed) · lt kovotojas (person engaged in combat, often armed) · id kombatan (person engaged in combat, often armed) · be камбата́нтка (person engaged in combat, often armed) · eo batalantino (person engaged in combat, often armed) · ru комбата́нтка (person engaged in combat, often armed) · de Kombattantin (person engaged in combat, often armed) · be бае́ц (person engaged in combat, often armed) · sh borac (person engaged in combat, often armed) · sl borec (person engaged in combat, often armed) · uk боє́ць (person engaged in combat, often armed) · ro combatant (person engaged in combat, often armed) · ar مُقَاتِل (person engaged in combat, often armed) · pl bojownik (person engaged in combat, often armed) · ms penempur (person engaged in combat, often armed) · fr combattant (person engaged in combat, often armed) · it combattente (person engaged in combat, often armed) · fa جنگجو (person engaged in combat, often armed) · sh bojovnik (person engaged in combat, often armed) · de Bekämpferin (person engaged in combat, often armed) · cs bojovnice (person engaged in combat, often armed) · hy մարտիկ (person engaged in combat, often armed) · ka მებრძოლი (person engaged in combat, often armed) · fa مبارز (person engaged in combat, often armed) · la proeliātor (person engaged in combat, often armed) · de Kämpfer (person engaged in combat, often armed) · de Kämpferin (person engaged in combat, often armed) · bg войни́к (person engaged in combat, often armed) · hi योद्धा (person engaged in combat, often armed) · uk комбата́нтка (person engaged in combat, often armed) · uk комбата́нт (person engaged in combat, often armed) · hi जंगजू (person engaged in combat, often armed) · sl bojevnica (person engaged in combat, often armed) · fa محارب (person engaged in combat, often armed) · ru во́ин (person engaged in combat, often armed) · sk bojovníca (person engaged in combat, often armed) · pl kombatantka (person engaged in combat, often armed) · ms kombatan (person engaged in combat, often armed) · pl bojowniczka (person engaged in combat, often armed) · ota صاواشجی (person engaged in combat, often armed) · be во́ін (person engaged in combat, often armed) · de Kombattant (person engaged in combat, often armed) · lv cīnītāja (person engaged in combat, often armed) · cs bojovník (person engaged in combat, often armed) · fa رزمنده (person engaged in combat, often armed) · de Bekämpfer (person engaged in combat, often armed) · ca combatent (person engaged in combat, often armed) · es combatiente (person engaged in combat, often armed) · ko 전투원 (person engaged in combat, often armed) · sv kombattant (person engaged in combat, often armed) · sl bojevnik (person engaged in combat, often armed) · nrf combattante (person engaged in combat, often armed) · bg бое́ц (person engaged in combat, often armed) · mk борец (person engaged in combat, often armed) · uk во́їн (person engaged in combat, often armed) · be камбата́нт (person engaged in combat, often armed) · zlw-ocs bojař (person engaged in combat, often armed) · pl kombatant (person engaged in combat, often armed) · sk bojovník (person engaged in combat, often armed)