noncombative

adjective

non·​com·​bat·​ive ˌnän-kəm-ˈba-tiv How to pronounce noncombative (audio)
Synonyms of noncombativenext
: not combative: such as
a
: not eager to fight or argue
Bolten's low-key, noncombative style has made his task a bit easier, especially when it came to asking the sometimes volatile Rove to surrender some of his power.—Richard Wolffe et al., Newsweek, 1 May 2006
b
: not involving combat and especially military combat
He notes that his troops are now carrying out noncombative missions in 105 countries, without incident.—Lee Smith, Fortune, 19 Sept. 1994

Word History

First Known Use

1833, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of noncombative was in 1833

Love words?

You must — there are over 200,000 words in our free online dictionary, but you are looking for one that’s only in the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary.

Start your free trial today and get unlimited access to America's largest dictionary, with:

  • More than 250,000 words that aren't in our free dictionary
  • Expanded definitions, etymologies, and usage notes
  • Advanced search features
  • Ad free!

Dictionary Entries Near noncombative

noncombatant

noncombative

noncombustible

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Noncombative.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/noncombative. Accessed 28 Apr. 2024.

Copy Citation

Share

More from Merriam-Webster on noncombative

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for noncombative

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See All

More Commonly Misspelled Words

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

Absent Letters That Are Heard Anyway

How to Use Accents and Diacritical Marks
See All

Popular in Wordplay

See All

The Words of the Week - Apr. 26

9 Superb Owl Words

'Gaslighting,' 'Woke,' 'Democracy,' and Other Top Lookups

10 Words for Lesser-Known Games and Sports

Your Favorite Band is in the Dictionary
See All

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game You can make only 12 words. Pick the best ones!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A crossword with a twist
winning words from the national spelling bee logo
Spelling Bee Quiz Can you outdo past winners of the National Spelli...