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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

battle.

A contest, a struggle.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈbætl̩/Received-Pronunciation[ˈbatʰɫ̩]Received-Pronunciation/ˈbætl̩/General-American[ˈbæɾɫ̩]General-American
  1. A contest, a struggle.

    the battle of life
  2. A contest, a struggle. A one-on-one competition in rapping or breakdance.

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

  4. A division of an army; a battalion.

    archaic
  5. The main body of an army, as distinct from the vanguard and rear; the battalia.

    obsolete
  6. Clipping of battle buddy.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping
Where this word comes from

From Middle English batel, batell, batelle, batayle, bataylle, borrowed from Old French bataille, from Late Latin battālia, variant of battuālia (“fighting and fencing exercises”) from Latin battuō (“to strike, hit, beat, fight”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from a Gaulish or Proto-Germanic root from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to stab, dig”), related to Old English beado (“battle”); or possibly from a Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- (“to hit, strike, beat”). Doublet of battalia and battel. Displaced native Old English ġefeoht, beado, camp, and wīg (“battle”), among others.

verb/ˈbætl̩/Received-Pronunciation[ˈbatʰɫ̩]Received-Pronunciation/ˈbætl̩/General-American[ˈbæɾɫ̩]General-American
  1. To join in battle; to contend in fight

    intransitive
    Scientists always battle over theories.
    She has been battling against cancer for years.
  2. To fight or struggle; to enter into a battle with.

    transitive
    She has been battling cancer for years.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English batel, batell, batelle, batayle, bataylle, borrowed from Old French bataille, from Late Latin battālia, variant of battuālia (“fighting and fencing exercises”) from Latin battuō (“to strike, hit, beat, fight”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from a Gaulish or Proto-Germanic root from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to stab, dig”), related to Old English beado (“battle”); or possibly from a Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- (“to hit, strike, beat”). Doublet of battalia and battel. Displaced native Old English ġefeoht, beado, camp, and wīg (“battle”), among others.

adj/ˈbætl̩/Received-Pronunciation[ˈbatʰɫ̩]Received-Pronunciation/ˈbætl̩/General-American[ˈbæɾɫ̩]General-American
  1. Of grass or pasture: nutritious to cattle or sheep; fattening, nourishing.

    battle grass    battle pasture
  2. Of land (originally pastureland) or soil: fertile, fruitful.

    broadly
    battle land    battle soil
Where this word comes from

From Early Modern English batell, probably from Middle English *batel (“flourishing”), from Old English *batol (“improving, tending to be good”), from batian (“to get better, improve”) + -ol ( + -le).

verb/ˈbætl̩/Received-Pronunciation[ˈbatʰɫ̩]Received-Pronunciation/ˈbætl̩/General-American[ˈbæɾɫ̩]General-American
  1. To feed or nourish (someone or something).

    Northern-England · Scotland · UK · dialectal · transitive
  2. To render (land, soil, etc.) fertile or fruitful.

    Northern-England · Scotland · UK · dialectal · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Early Modern English batell, probably from Middle English *batel (“flourishing”), from Old English *batol (“improving, tending to be good”), from batian (“to get better, improve”) + -ol ( + -le).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.