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Combat vs Defeat - What's the difference?

combat | defeat |

In transitive terms the difference between combat and defeat

is that combat is to fight with; to struggle for victory against while defeat is to reduce, to nothing, the strength of.

combat

English

(wikipedia combat)

Noun

  • A battle, a fight (often one in which weapons are used); a struggle for victory.
  • *
  • *:"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;."
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2012-03, author=William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter
    • , volume=100, issue=2, page=87, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= The British Longitude Act Reconsidered , passage=Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time. Scurvy and other diseases ran rampant, killing more seamen each year than all other causes combined, including combat .}}

    Derived terms

    * combat pay

    Verb

  • To fight with; to struggle for victory against.
  • * Milton
    • To combat with a blind man I disdain.

    Anagrams

    * ----

    defeat

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To overcome in battle or contest.
    • Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.
  • To reduce, to nothing, the strength of.
  • * Tillotson
    • He finds himself naturally to dread a superior Being that can defeat all his designs, and disappoint all his hopes.
  • * A. W. Ward
    • In one instance he defeated his own purpose.
  • To nullify
  • * Hallam
    • The escheators defeated the right heir of his succession.

    Synonyms

    (To overcome in contest) * beat * conquer * overthrow * rout * vanquish

    Related terms

    * defeasance * defeasible * defeater * defeatism * defeatist * defeature

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of defeating or being defeated.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=May 13 , author=Alistair Magowan , title=Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Two defeats in five games coming into this contest, and a draw with Everton, ultimately cost Sir Alex Ferguson's side in what became the most extraordinary finale to the league championship since Arsenal beat Liverpool at Anfield in 1989.}}