Battle Meaning
/ˈbætl̩/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA contest, a struggle.
nounA contest, a struggle., A one-on-one competition in rapping or breakdance.
Sentence Examples
We won the battle.
We can say that Japan was fighting a constant battle against hunger during the war.
Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The soldiers prepared to ____ the enemy at dawn in the valley.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The two armies met in a fierce ____ in the middle of the large field.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I returned, and saw vnder the Sunne, That the race is not to the swift, nor the battell to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of vnderstanding, nor yet fauour to men of skil; but time and chance happeneth to them all."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ecclesiastes 9:11:
"[T]he whole intellectual battle that had at its centre the best poem of the best poet of that day, and had the English Revolution among issues of the strife, was quickening the energies within young Foe's [i.e., Daniel Defoe's] mind when his age was twenty."
— 1884, Henry Morley, “Introduction”, in Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year: […], London: George Routledge and Sons, Limd.; New York, N.Y.: E. P. Dutton and Co., →OCLC, page v:
"In truth, Tottenham never really looked like taking all three points and this defeat means they face a battle to reach the knockout stages – with their next home game against PAOK Salonika on 30 November likely to prove decisive."
— 2011 November 3, Chris Bevan, “Rubin Kazan 1 – 0 Tottenham”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 26 Mar 2019:
"Australian broadcaster Clive James has admitted that he is losing his long-fought battle with leukaemia."
— 2012 June 21, “Clive James: ‘I’ve Lost My Battle with Cancer’”, in ITV News, archived from the original on 21 Jun 2012:
"Thenne kyng Arthur made redy his hooſt in x batails and Nero was redy in the felde afore the caſtel Tarabil with a grete hooſt / & he had x batails with many mo peple than Arthur had […]"
— [1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum x”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book II (in Middle English), [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC, leaf 43, verso; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC, page 86, lines 28–31:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The soldiers prepared to ____ the enemy at dawn in the valley.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The two armies met in a fierce ____ in the middle of the large field.