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Combat vs Encounter - What's the difference?

combat | encounter | Related terms |

In transitive terms the difference between combat and encounter

is that combat is to fight with; to struggle for victory against while encounter is to confront (someone or something) face to face.

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

    * ----

    encounter

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l) (obsolete) * incounter (archaic) * incountre (obsolete)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To meet (someone) or find (something) unexpectedly.
  • To confront (someone or something) face to face.
  • (ambitransitive) To engage in conflict, as with an enemy.
  • Three armies encountered at Waterloo.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I will encounter with Andronicus.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An unplanned or unexpected meeting.
  • :
  • *
  • *: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 dĂ©butante Craig girls—and Selwyn found himself again facing Alixe.
  • A hostile meeting; a confrontation or skirmish.
  • A sudden, often violent clash, as between combatants.
  • (label) A match between two opposing sides.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 29, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal , passage=Andre Santos equalised and the outstanding Theo Walcott put Arsenal ahead for the first time before Juan Mata's spectacular strike set up the finale for an enthralling encounter .}}

    Synonyms

    * (unplanned meeting ): * (hostile meeting ): clash, confrontation, brush, skirmish

    Derived terms

    * close encounter * encounter group