battle definition

1. a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war
• examples: Grant won a decisive victory in the battle of Chickamauga
• examples: he lost his romantic ideas about war when he got into a real engagement
2. battle or contend against in or as if in a battle
• examples: The Kurds are combating Iraqi troops in Northern Iraq
• examples: We must combat the prejudices against other races
• examples: they battled over the budget