different between combat vs encounter

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French, from Old French combatre, from Vulgar Latin *combattere, from Latin com- (“with”) + battuere (“to beat, strike”).

Pronunciation

• Noun:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?m?bæt/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /?k?m?bæt/
• Verb:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?m?bæt/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /k?m?bæt/, /?k?m?bæt/
• Rhymes: -æt

Noun

combat (countable and uncountable, plural combats)

1. A battle, a fight (often one in which weapons are used).

   • "My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects; […]."
2. a struggle for victory

Derived terms

• combat pay
• combatant
• combative
• stage combat

Translations

Verb

combat (third-person singular simple present combats, present participle combatting or combating, simple past and past participle combatted or combated)

1. (transitive) To fight; to struggle against.

   It has proven very difficult to combat drug addiction.

2. (intransitive) To fight (with); to struggle for victory (against).
   • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes

     To combat with a blind man I disdain.

Translations

Anagrams

• M.B. coat, tombac

Catalan

Etymology

From combatre, attested from 1490.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /kom?bat/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /kum?bat/
• Rhymes: -at

Noun

combat m (plural combats)

1. combat

Verb

combat

1. third-person singular present indicative form of combatre
2. second-person singular imperative form of combatre

References

Further reading

• “combat” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “combat” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “combat” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

From combattre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.ba/
• Homophone: combats

Noun

combat m (plural combats)

1. combat (hostile interaction)
2. (figuratively) combat (contest; competition)
3. (in the plural) battle; military combat

Derived terms

Verb

combat

1. third-person singular present indicative of combattre

Further reading

• “combat” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Norman

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

combat m (plural combats)

1. (Jersey) combat

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kom?bat]

Verb

combat

1. first-person singular present indicative of combate
2. third-person plural present indicative of combate
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of combate

English

Alternative forms

• incounter (archaic)
• encountre, incountre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English encountren, from rom Anglo-Norman encountrer, Old French encontrer (“to confront”), from encontre (“against, counter to”), from Late Latin incontr? (“in front of”) itself from Latin in (“in”) + contr? (“against”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?n?ka?nt?/, /???ka?nt?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?ka?nt?/, /???ka?nt?/
• Hyphenation: en?coun?ter
• Rhymes: -a?nt?(?)

Verb

encounter (third-person singular simple present encounters, present participle encountering, simple past and past participle encountered)

1. (transitive) To meet (someone) or find (something), especially unexpectedly.
2. (transitive) To confront (someone or something) face to face.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To engage in conflict, as with an enemy.

   Three armies encountered at Waterloo.

Synonyms

(meet unexpectedly): cross paths

Translations

Noun

encounter (plural encounters)

1. A meeting, especially one that is unplanned or unexpected.

   • That was Selwyn's first encounter with the Ruthvens. A short time afterward at the opera Gerald dragged him into a parterre to say something amiable to one of the amiable débutante Craig girls—and Selwyn found himself again facing Alixe.

   • 1995, Maija Kalin, Coping with problems of understanding: repair sequences in coversations between native and non-native speakers:

     As they have planned the encounters, they mostly have control over the time limits.

2. A hostile, often violent meeting; a confrontation, skirmish, or clash, as between combatants.
3. (sports) A match between two opposing sides.

Synonyms

• (hostile meeting): clash, confrontation, brush, skirmish

Derived terms

• close encounter
• encounter group

Translations

Anagrams

• encountre