Word.ws English Dictionary

embattle

UK/ɛmˈbæt.əl//ɛmˈbæ.təl/

embattle verb: to arrange in order of battle; to array for battle.

Verb (1)

embattle (third-person singular simple present embattles, present participle embattling, simple past and past participle embattled)

  1. (transitive) To arrange in order of battle; to array for battle.
  2. To prepare or arm for battle; to equip as for battle.
    • In behalf of the dignity of whaling, I would fain advance naught but substantiated facts. But after embattling his facts, an advocate who should wholly suppress a not unreasonable surmise, which might tell eloquently upon his cause — such an advocate, would he not be blameworthy ?1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter XXV, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 124
    Synonyms:
    fortify
  3. (intransitive) To be arrayed for battle.

Verb (2)

embattle (third-person singular simple present embattles, present participle embattling, simple past and past participle embattled)

  1. (transitive) To furnish with battlements; to give the form of battlements to.
    • to embattle a wall

Noun

embattle (plural embattles)

  1. A merlon, or a single one of the series of solid projections of a battlement.
    • Again, it can be drawn with the angle of the limbs being greater or less than a right angle, but they will appear to conflict with the embattles which have to be rectangular. In some ordinaries such as the fess, there must be an odd number of embattles, otherwise it will start high and end low [...]1996, Anthony Wood, Heraldic Art and Design, page 53

Synonyms of embattle

Forms of embattle

Verb
third-person singular presentembattles
present participleembattling
past participleembattled
pastembattled
Noun
pluralembattles

Origin of embattle

From Middle English enbatelen, embatailen, from Old French embataillier (“to array for battle”), from em- (Latin in) + bataille (“battle”).

From Middle English enbatelen, enbatailen, from Old French *embastiller ("to fortify"; > Middle Latin imbataliare, imbattajare), from en- + + bastiller (“to build, fortify, embattle”). More at baste.

Words formed from embattle

Questions about embattle

What does embattle mean?
Embattle means to arrange in order of battle; to array for battle.
What part of speech is embattle?
Embattle can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce embattle?
Embattle is pronounced /ɛmˈbæ.təl/ (US).
What is the past tense of embattle?
The past tense of embattle is embattled.

Words near embattle in the dictionary

  1. embattail
  2. embattailed
  3. embattailing
  4. embattails
  5. embatteled
  6. embattle
  7. embattled
  8. embattlement
  9. embattlements
  10. embattles
  11. embattling

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: embattle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-embattle.ogg.

Cite this entry: “embattle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/embattle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.