noncombatant

noun

non·​com·​bat·​ant ˌnän-kəm-ˈba-tᵊnt 

also

ˌnän-ˈkäm-bə-tənt 

: one that does not engage in combat: such as

a

: a member (such as a chaplain) of the armed forces whose duties do not include fighting

b

: civilian

noncombatant adjective

Examples of noncombatant in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The 25-year-old West Point graduate was a noncombatant, attached to Harney’s expedition as a mapmaker and topographer. —Tim Madigan, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Oct. 2024

More than two thousand have died and some ten thousand have been injured, many of them noncombatants. —Bernard Avishai, The New Yorker, 8 Oct. 2024

Those images are contrasted with two videos of drag queens, plus a clip of Dr. Levine — who is currently Assistant Secretary for Health and an admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (which is not part of the Department of Defense and is only comprised of noncombatants). —Samantha Riedel, Them, 16 Oct. 2024

The room is not just for veterans, but for noncombatants, too, caught up in the tragedy of war. —Anna Mulrine Grobe, The Christian Science Monitor, 27 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1811, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

noncombatant

noun

non·​com·​ba·​tant

ˌnän-kəm-ˈbat-ᵊnt,

(ˈ)nän-ˈkäm-bət-ənt

1

: a member (as a chaplain) of the armed forces whose duties do not include fighting

2

: civilian

noncombatant adjective