battle、war、campaign、struggle、warfare、fight、combat与engagement这些名词均有“战斗、战争”之意。
battle : 侧重指战争中的一次较全面、时间较长的战斗，也指陆军或海军在某一特定地区进行的战斗，或个人之间的争斗。
- the Battle of the Somme
索姆河战役 - Her only brother was killed in battle (= while fighting).
她唯一的哥哥在战斗中牺牲了。
war : 是战争的总称，一般指包括多个战役的大规模战争。
- nuclear war
核战争 - a war film/grave/hero/poet
战争影片／军人墓／战斗英雄／战争诗人 - If this country goes to (= starts to fight in a) war we will have to face the fact that many people will die.
如果这个国家参战，我们将不得不面对很多人都要送命的现实。 - Britain and France declared war on Germany in 1939 as a result of the invasion of Poland.
因为德国入侵波兰，所以英国和法国于1939年对德宣战。 - War broke out between the two countries after a border dispute.
边界纠纷导致两国之间爆发了战争。 - They've been at war for the last five years.
过去5年他们一直在交战。
campaign : 通常指在一场大的战争中在某一地区进行的一连串有既定目的的军事行动。也可作引申用。
- a bombing campaign
轰炸行动 - The allies are intensifying their air campaign.
联军部队正加大他们的空战强度。
struggle : 指激烈或时间持续长的战斗或奋力斗争。
- a struggle with an armed robber
和持械劫匪的搏斗 - the struggle between good and evil
善恶之争 - Clearly there will be a power struggle within the company.
很明显，公司内将出现一场权力之争。
warfare : 侧重指战争状态或具体的作战方法。
- guerrilla/naval/nuclear/trench warfare
游击战／海战／核大战／堑壕战
fight : 最普通用词，含义广，指战斗、斗争或打斗。
- Jeff's always getting into/starting fights.
杰夫总是卷入／挑起争斗。 - The older boys broke up (= stopped) the fight.
稍大些的男孩子们制止了打斗。 - UK I had a stand-up fight with her (= we argued strongly) about the phone bill.
我和她为了电话账单大吵了一架。 - He put up a fight when the police tried to arrest him.
他在警察逮捕他时拒捕。 - We must continue the fight against homelessness.
我们必须继续努力消除无家可归的现象。 - He died last week after a long fight with cancer.
在与癌症进行了长期的斗争后，他于上周去世了。 - They put up a good fight (= played well) against a more experienced team.
他们在与一支经验更为丰富的足球队对阵时表现很出色。
combat : 泛指军事行动，尤指小规模的战斗，甚至是格斗。
- There was fierce combat between the two sides.
双方展开了激烈的战斗。 - No one knew how many troops had died in combat.
没有人知道在战斗中死了多少士兵。 - The soldiers were engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
士兵们展开了肉搏战。 - armed combat (= fighting with weapons)
武装斗争 - unarmed combat (= fighting without weapons)
非武装斗争 - The film explores the combat between good and evil.
影片探讨了善恶之间的较量。
engagement : 指交战，交火。
- The general tried to avoid an engagement with the enemy.
将军竭力避免与敌军交火。 - The constitution prohibits them from military engagement on foreign soil.
宪法禁止他们在外国采取军事行动。
