Library / English Dictionary

BATTLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An energetic attempt to achieve something

Example:

he fought a battle for recognition

Synonyms:

battle; struggle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("battle" is a kind of...):

attempt; effort; endeavor; endeavour; try (earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "battle"):

duel (any struggle between two skillful opponents (individuals or groups))

scramble; scuffle (an unceremonious and disorganized struggle)

joust; tilt (a combat between two mounted knights tilting against each other with blunted lances)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war

Example:

he lost his romantic ideas about war when he got into a real engagement

Synonyms:

battle; conflict; engagement; fight

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("battle" is a kind of...):

action; military action (a military engagement)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "battle"):

Armageddon (any catastrophically destructive battle)

pitched battle (a fierce battle fought in close combat between troops in predetermined positions at a chosen time and place)

naval battle (a pitched battle between naval fleets)

armed combat; combat (an engagement fought between two military forces)

dogfight (an aerial engagement between fighter planes)

assault (close fighting during the culmination of a military attack)

Instance hyponyms:

Drogheda (in 1649 the place was captured by Oliver Cromwell, who massacred the Catholic inhabitants)

Battle of Britain (the prolonged bombardment of British cities by the German Luftwaffe during World War II and the aerial combat that accompanied it)

Holonyms ("battle" is a part of...):

war; warfare (the waging of armed conflict against an enemy)

Derivation:

battle (battle or contend against in or as if in a battle)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals)

Example:

police tried to control the battle between the pro- and anti-abortion mobs

Synonyms:

battle; conflict; struggle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("battle" is a kind of...):

group action (action taken by a group of people)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "battle"):

class struggle; class war; class warfare (conflict between social or economic classes (especially between the capitalist and proletariat classes))

insurrection; rebellion; revolt; rising; uprising (organized opposition to authority; a conflict in which one faction tries to wrest control from another)

counterinsurgency; pacification (actions taken by a government to defeat insurgency)

strife (bitter conflict; heated often violent dissension)

tug-of-war (any hard struggle between equally matched groups)

turf war (a bitter struggle for territory or power or control or rights)

combat; fight; fighting; scrap (the act of fighting; any contest or struggle)

feud (a bitter quarrel between two parties)

war; warfare (an active struggle between competing entities)

Derivation:

battle (battle or contend against in or as if in a battle)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Battle or contend against in or as if in a battle

Example:

they battled over the budget

Synonyms:

battle; combat

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "battle" is one way to...):

contend; fight; struggle (be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "battle"):

dogfight (engage in an aerial battle with another fighter plane)

wrestle (combat to overcome an opposing tendency or force)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

Sam and Sue battle

Sam cannot battle Sue

Derivation:

battle (a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war)

battle (an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals))

battler (someone who fights (or is fighting))

Credits

 Context examples: 

Then come the sudden swirl round of the wind, the blistering gale from the south-west, the dragging anchor, the lee shore, and the last battle in the creaming breakers.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center is an independent medical and research institution dedicated to developing innovative, disease-fighting strategies in the battle against cancer.

(City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, NCI Thesaurus)

The results are providing real-time information, such as vertical wind profiles, to firefighters battling blazes.

(Researchers discover how wildfires create their own weather, National Science Foundation)

They battled it together for a long time, which was more than either the gentleman or lady concerned in it deserved.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

And therefore, in recounting the numbers of those who have been killed in battle, I cannot but think you have said the thing which is not.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

But the Scarecrow said, "This is my battle, so lie down beside me and you will not be harmed."

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Then the King and Queen flew home to their children and cried: “Children, rejoice, eat and drink to your heart’s content, we have won the battle!”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

There were many signs of the battle that had been fought, and of the lynx's withdrawal to her lair after having won the victory.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Yet in what darkness, what dense ignorance, was the mental battle fought!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I know now what men feel in battle when the call to action is heard.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)