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battle

noun · verb · adjective

Simple meaning

A general action, fight.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

batuhl

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈbætəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. military

    A general action, fight, or encounter, in which all the divisions of an army are or may be engaged; a combat, an engagement.

  2. A contest, a struggle.

  3. A one-on-one competition in rapping or breakdance.

verb

  1. To render (land, soil, etc.) fertile or fruitful.

  2. To feed or nourish (someone or something).

  3. transitive

    To fight or struggle; to enter into a battle with.

  4. Battle or contend against in or as if in a battle

  5. intransitive

    To join in battle; to contend in fight

adjective

  1. Of grass or pasture: nutritious to cattle or sheep; fattening, nourishing.

  2. by extension

    Of land (originally pastureland) or soil: fertile, fruitful.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

battle creekpitched battlebattle crygreat battlefirst battledecisive battlesecond battlelast battle

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • fight

    A physical confrontation or combat between two or more people or groups.

  • combat

    An engagement fought between two military forces.

  • engagement

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

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • battleshipnounDerived noun · specialist

    Large and heavily armoured warship.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • battle dressnounCompound term

    A military uniform designed for field service.

  • battle fatiguenounCompound term

    A mental disorder caused by stress of active warfare.

  • battle flagnounCompound term

    A flag that leads troops into battle.

  • battle fleetnounCompound term

    A fleet of warships prepared for battle.

  • battle groupnounCompound term

    An army unit usually consisting of five companies.

  • battle linenounCompound term

    The line along which warring troops meet.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • battlefieldnounRelated term

    A region where a battle is being (or has been) fought.

  • battlegroundnounRelated term

    A region where a battle is being (or has been) fought.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to render (land or soil or etc.) fertile

combat

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.