Battle

n. combat, fight, war

v. fight, engage in combat

Generally, a battle is a specific instance of combat in warfare between two or more parties wherein each group will seek to defeat the others. Battles are most often fought during wars or military campaigns and can usually be well defined in time, space and action. Wars and military campaigns are guided by strategy whereas battles are the stage on which tactics are employed. German strategist Carl von Clausewitz stated that "the employment of battles to gain the end of war" was the essence of strategy.
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Noun
1. a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war; "Grant won a decisive victory in the battle of Chickamauga"; "he lost his romantic ideas about war when he got into a real engagement"
(synonym) conflict, fight, engagement
(hypernym) military action, action
(hyponym) Armageddon
(part-holonym) war, warfare
(derivation) combat
(classification) military, armed forces, armed services, military machine, war machine
2. an energetic attempt to achieve something; "getting through the crowd was a real struggle"; "he fought a battle for recognition"
(synonym) struggle
(hypernym) attempt, effort, endeavor, endeavour, try
(hyponym) duel
3. an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals); "the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph"--Thomas Paine; "police tried to control the battle between the pro- and anti-abortion mobs"
(synonym) conflict, struggle
(hypernym) group action
(hyponym) class struggle, class war, class warfare
(derivation) combat
Verb
1. battle or contend against in or as if in a battle; "The Kurds are combating Iraqi troops in Nothern Iraq"; "We must combat the prejudices against other races"; "they battled over the budget"
(synonym) combat
(hypernym) fight, struggle
(hyponym) dogfight
(derivation) conflict, struggle

(v. t.)
To assail in battle; to fight.
  

(v. t.)
The main body, as distinct from the van and rear; battalia.
  

(v. t.)
A struggle; a contest; as, the battle of life.
  

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

(v. t.)
A division of an army; a battalion.
  

(n.)
To join in battle; to contend in fight; as, to battle over theories.
  

(a.)
Fertile. See Battel, a.
  

Fr. A formation of combatants consisting of several conrois , drawn into a formation two or three men deep and fifty or sixty wide.