non-combatantn.adj.
/nɒnˈkɒmbət(ə)nt/, /nɒnˈkʌmbət(ə)nt/, /ˌnɒnkəmˈbat(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˌnɑnkəmˈbætnt/, /ˌnɑnkəmˈbædənt/ A. n.
A person who is not a combatant, as a civilian during a war; spec. a member of the armed services whose duties do not include active fighting, as a surgeon, purser, or chaplain, etc. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > soldier by type of service > [noun] > non-combatant
non-combatant1811
non-resistant1850
1811 Duke of Wellington Dispatches (1837) VIII. 472 The..pay of non-combatants and pensioners.
1813 Duke of Wellington Dispatches (1838) XI. 78 In former wars, a person in your situation would have been considered a non-combatant and would have been immediately released.
1872 ‘M. Twain’ Roughing It App. C. 582 The ‘non-combatant’ sticks to principle, but takes along a friend or two of a conveniently different stripe.
1915 R. Fry Let. 27 Aug. (1972) II. 390 Perhaps the worst of all the horrors of war is the abominable demoralization of the non-combatants.
1969 M. Puzo Godfather (1972) i. ix. 121 He was annoyed with the role assigned to him, that of the privileged noncombatant, the excused conscientious objector.
1986 Cambridge (Mass.) Chron. 6 Mar. 3 The civil war..has claimed over 40,000 non-combatants.
1999 Express 10 June 72/1 Mickey Duff, the veteran promoter.., flew to America yesterday to be honoured as a ‘non-combatant’ in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
B. adj.
Not involved in fighting; of, belonging to, or characteristic of a non-combatant.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > peace > non-belligerency > [adjective]
unembroiled1759
unengaged1806
non-combatant1826
non-belligerent1845
1826 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 252 It may be questioned whether..such a noncombatant system ever can be successful.
1868 C. B. Norton & W. J. Valentine Rep. to Govt. U.S. on Munitions of War at Paris Universal Exhib. 1867 196 Hospital attendants..employed in the transport of wounded.., while non-combatant and solely occupied in these duties [etc.].
1881 E. Robertson in Encycl. Brit. XIII. 194/1 That the non-combatant portions of the two communities should remain as though they were in a state of peace.
1926 T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars (subscribers' ed.) xcvix. 524 The movement of non-combatant bodies along the dusty roads.
1944 A. Huxley Let. 22 July (1969) 509 It may mean discharge or noncombatant duty.
1990 Dict. National Biogr. 1981–85 269/2 His attempt to register as a conscientious objector was frustrated by a tribunal which directed him to non-combatant military service.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1811