combats

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of combat.

   Historians cataloged the individual combats that made up the prolonged siege.

   Ancient gladiators fought in deadly combats before enormous crowds.

   Note

   Only the countable side of the noun takes this plural. Combat as fighting in general (troops in combat, killed in combat) stays singular. A single fight or duel, however, is a combat, and several are combats: single combats, the combats of a long siege. The same spelling also serves as the verb's present tense and as a clipped name for clothing, so the surrounding words decide which is meant.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of combat.

   The charity combats hunger in the poorest regions of the country.

   A balanced diet combats many common illnesses.

   Note

   Charities and diets use it for fighting a problem head-on: it combats hunger, combats illness. In that use the thing resisted is a plain direct object, with no preposition needed. The verb also has an intransitive pattern, in which one force combats with or against another. Choosing between them comes down to whether the struggle has a target or a rival.

3. 3
   nounabbreviationclipping

   Clipping of combat trousers.

   The hikers showed up in faded combats and waterproof jackets.

   He pulled on a pair of combats before heading out to the workshop.

   Note

   Clothing shortened to its first word: combat trousers become combats, the same garment as cargo pants. Like trousers itself, it is plural-only. You wear a pair of combats, and you say they are, never it is; a lone combat never names the garment. Because the boot sense is clipped the same way, only the context tells legs from feet.

4. 4
   nounabbreviationclipping

   Clipping of combat boots.

   The drummer stomped on stage in scuffed black combats.

   He kept a spare pair of combats by the back door for muddy days.

   Note

   Here the clipping counts real objects. The full form has a singular, combat boot, because boots come one per foot, while trousers are one plural-only garment. A pair of combats can therefore point either way, and the setting has to decide. Scuffed black combats stomping across a stage are boots. The shortening follows the same pattern as the trousers sense.

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