battle, engagement, conflict, fight - 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"

belligerency, hostility - acts of overt warfare; "the outbreak of hostilities"

war, warfare - the waging of armed conflict against an enemy; "thousands of people were killed in the war"

aggression - the act of initiating hostilities

armed forces, armed services, military, military machine, war machine - the military forces of a nation; "their military is the largest in the region"; "the military machine is the same one we faced in 1991 but now it is weaker"