combatant

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /kəmˈbætənt/ UK /ˈkɒmbətənt/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a person engaged in fighting, especially in war

International law distinguishes combatants from civilians.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person engaged in... fighter warrior soldier belligerent contender adversary

Opposites

noncombatantcivilian pacifist neutral

Word family

Related forms combat combative battle abate

Etymology

From Old French combatant ('fighting, fighter'), present participle of combatre ('to fight'), from Late Latin combattere, from com- ('with, together') + battuere ('to beat, strike').

combatre Old French battuere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# combatant

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /kəmˈbætənt/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈkɒmbətənt/

## Meanings
1. a person engaged in fighting, especially in war

## Examples
- International law distinguishes combatants from civilians.

## Synonyms
- fighter
- warrior
- soldier
- belligerent
- contender
- adversary

## Antonyms
- noncombatant
- civilian
- pacifist
- neutral

## Related Forms
- combat
- combative
- battle
- abate

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: combatre
- Root: battuere

## Etymology
From Old French combatant ('fighting, fighter'), present participle of combatre ('to fight'), from Late Latin combattere, from com- ('with, together') + battuere ('to beat, strike').

## AI Etymology
Combatant is from Old French combatant ('fighting, fighter'), present participle of combatre ('to fight'), from Late Latin combattere, from com- ('with, together') + battuere ('to beat, strike'). Important recorded forms include combatre (Old French) and battuere (Latin). Morphologically, the word is a built form whose named elements carry part of the historical sense. The current sense covers a person engaged in fighting, especially in war. The wider family includes related words such as combat, combative, battle, and abate.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown