different between combat vs strive

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?st?a?v/
• Rhymes: -a?v

Etymology 1

From Middle English striven (“to strive”), from Old French estriver (“to compete, quarrel”), from Frankish *str?ban (“to exert, make an effort”) from Proto-Germanic *str?ban?.

Verb

strive (third-person singular simple present strives, present participle striving, simple past strove or strived, past participle striven or strived or (nonstandard, colloquial) strove)

1. To try to achieve a result; to make strenuous effort; to try earnestly and persistently.
2. To struggle in opposition; to be in contention or dispute; to contend; to contest.
   • 1641, John Denham, On the Earl of Strafford's Tryal and Death

     Now private pity strove with public hate, / Reason with rage, and eloquence with fate.

3. To vie; to compete as a rival.

Usage notes

• This often occurs as a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
• The strong or irregular forms "strove" and "striven" are more commonly used in print than "strived".

Conjugation

Related terms

• strife

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

strive (plural strives)

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of strife

Further reading

• strive in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• strive in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Rivets, Stiver, rivest, rivets, stiver, tivers, verist