fighter

Noun

1. A person who fights; a combatant.
2. A warrior; a fighting soldier.
3. A pugnacious, competitive person.
4. A person with a strong determination to resist protracted or severe adversity, especially illness.
   • Little weapons / Over the phone / They like to threaten / The life that I know / They say "Get over here and get into the ring" / But I'm not really much of a fighter - 2011, Lenka, Ben H. Allen, “Roll with the...
5. A class of fixed-wing aircraft whose primary purpose is to shoot down other aircraft, sometimes accompanied by a secondary purpose of attacking ground targets.

   1. (science fiction, by extension) A starfighter

      • Task Force 42 consisted of almost two dozen main line spinships, including the carriers Olympus Shadow and Neptune Station. Each of these can launch more than a hundred fighters or ALRs. - 1990, Dan Simmons, The Fall of...
      • I toss around [37,654 tonne] dreadnoughts like they were fighters; dimly aware of the former crews being crushed to liquescence. - 2007 September 25, Bungie, Halo 3, Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox 360, level/area:...
6. A participant in boxing or any martial art.
7. A firefighter.
8. A game with a focus on physical combat.
   • Still, it's excellent software, especially for one-on-one fighting titles such as the King Of Fighters series, classic Street Fighter II variants, and newer one-on-one fighters such as Garou. - 2004, Simon Carless,...