What's the difference between fight and mercenary?

Fight


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To strive or contend for victory, with armies or in single combat; to attempt to defeat, subdue, or destroy an enemy, either by blows or weapons; to contend in arms; -- followed by with or against.
  • (v. i.) To act in opposition to anything; to struggle against; to contend; to strive; to make resistance.
  • (v. t.) To carry on, or wage, as a conflict, or battle; to win or gain by struggle, as one's way; to sustain by fighting, as a cause.
  • (v. t.) To contend with in battle; to war against; as, they fought the enemy in two pitched battles; the sloop fought the frigate for three hours.
  • (v. t.) To cause to fight; to manage or maneuver in a fight; as, to fight cocks; to fight one's ship.
  • (v. i.) A battle; an engagement; a contest in arms; a combat; a violent conflict or struggle for victory, between individuals or between armies, ships, or navies, etc.
  • (v. i.) A struggle or contest of any kind.
  • (v. i.) Strength or disposition for fighting; pugnacity; as, he has a great deal of fight in him.
  • (v. i.) A screen for the combatants in ships.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) beta-Endorphin blocked the development of fighting responses when a low footshock intensity was used, but facilitated it when a high shock intensity was delivered.
  • (2) A 45-year-old mother of four, named as Hediye Sen, was killed during clashes in Cizre, while a 70-year-old died of a heart attack during fighting in Silopi, according to hospital sources.
  • (3) At the ceremony, the Taliban welcomed dialogue with Washington but said their fighters would not stop fighting.
  • (4) A dozen peers hold ministerial positions and Westminster officials are expecting them to keep the paperwork to run the country flowing and the ministerial seats warm while their elected colleagues fight for votes.
  • (5) I hope they fight for the money to make their jobs worth doing, because it's only with the money (a drop in the ocean though it may be) that they'll be able to do anything.
  • (6) They argue that the US, the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases per capita (China recently surpassed us in sheer volume), needs to lead the fight to limit carbon emissions, rather continuing to block global treaties as it has done in the past.
  • (7) If there was to be guerrilla warfare, I wanted to be able to stand and fight with my people and to share the hazards of war with them.
  • (8) How big tobacco lost its final fight for hearts, lungs and minds Read more Shares in Imperial closed down 1% and British American Tobacco lost 0.75%, both underperforming the FTSE100’s 0.3% decline.
  • (9) But still we have to fight for health benefits, we have to jump through loops … Why doesn’t the NFL offer free healthcare for life, especially for those suffering from brain injury?” The commissioner, however, was quick to remind Davis that benefits are agreed as part of the collective bargaining process held between the league and the players’ union, and said that they had been extended during the most recent round of negotiations.
  • (10) Unlike most birds of prey, which are territorial and fight each other over nesting and hunting grounds, the hen harrier nests close to other harriers.
  • (11) Like many families, we’ve had to move to escape the fighting.
  • (12) Critics of wind power peddle the same old myths about investment in new energy sources adding to families' fuel bills , preferring to pick a fight with people concerned about the environment, than stand up to vested interests in the energy industry, for the hard-pressed families and pensioners being ripped off by the energy giants.
  • (13) When the election comes, we won’t be campaigning for a coalition... ...we will be fighting heart and soul for a majority Conservative Government – because that is what our country needs.
  • (14) We have much more fighting to do!” Now Cherwell is preparing to publish letters or articles from other students who have been inspired to open up about their own ordeals.
  • (15) We need to put our heads together, and get our act together to fight corruption.
  • (16) It’s useless if we try and fight with them through force, so we try and fight with them through humour.” “There is a saying that laughing is the best form of medicine.
  • (17) He was fighting to breathe.” The decision on her father’s case came just 10 days after a grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, found there was not enough evidence to indict a white police officer for shooting dead an unarmed black teenager called Michael Brown.
  • (18) That’s why I thought: ‘I hope Tyson wins – even if he never gives me a shot.’ As long as the heavyweight titles are out of Germany we could have some interesting fights.
  • (19) Everyone expressed commitment to fight climate change.
  • (20) His greatest legacy, besides his three children, is the joy and happiness he offered to others, particularly to those fighting personal battles.

Mercenary


Definition:

  • (a.) Acting for reward; serving for pay; paid; hired; hireling; venal; as, mercenary soldiers.
  • (a.) Hence: Moved by considerations of pay or profit; greedy of gain; sordid; selfish.
  • (n.) One who is hired; a hireling; especially, a soldier hired into foreign service.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Donald Trump’s campaign chairman took a “mercenary” approach to lobbying the US government on behalf of international clients accused of killings, rapes and other atrocities, according to one of his former colleagues.
  • (2) Other South African reports have suggested the mercenaries were paid $15,000 each.
  • (3) Deplores the continuing flows of mercenaries into the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and calls upon all Member States to comply strictly with their obligations under paragraph 9 of resolution 1970 (2011) to prevent the provision of armed mercenary personnel to the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; Ban on flights 17.
  • (4) Two of his top aides, Conor Cruise O'Brien and George Ivan Smith, both became convinced that the secretary general had been shot down by mercenaries working for European industrialists in Katanga.
  • (5) The CAR's ousted president, Francois Bozize, a Christian, fled the capital in March as the Seleka, including mercenaries from Chad and Sudan, overran the city.
  • (6) And he kept his mercenaries and tortured people inside these walls," said Tarek Saleh, a 25-year-old revolutionary.
  • (7) Unclothed female bodies offer a route up the ladder, just as armed male bodies do for the mercenary "sellswords", who seek their fortune by fighting.
  • (8) Allies can now expect to pay for their security umbrella, as the US military effectively turns into a mercenary force.
  • (9) There have been further protests in Iran in support of the mainly Shia Bahraini opposition, and Tehran recently warned Pakistan against sending any more "mercenaries" to join the crackdown.
  • (10) Yet some have dismissed the vote as irrelevant to Gaddafi and his remaining commanders, or argued that the resolution itself prevents any investigation into non-Libyan "mercenaries" who some allege have been involved in the killings.
  • (11) They say 10 generals who led the rebellion came from Chad, although they describe them as mercenaries rather than Chadian army officers.
  • (12) Ocampo suggested Saif could be travelling with the protection of mercenaries who are preparing to fly him to an unidentified African state that does not co-operate with the ICC and would be unlikely to extradite him.
  • (13) Bahrainis often complain that the riot police and special forces do not speak the local dialect, or in the case of Baluchis from Pakistan, do not speak Arabic at all and are reviled as mercenaries.
  • (14) In a statement on Friday, Russia's defence ministry said the Ukrainian military operation was launching rocket strikes on protesters, accusing it of employing ultra-nationalists from the group Right Sector and “English-speaking foreigners” it suggested were American mercenaries.
  • (15) Oh, and football clubs – two of them contesting the Champions League final in London next week – built on youth policy, supporter ownership and long-term strategy, not mercenary millionaires, foreign oligarchs and instant gratification.
  • (16) Later the kidnappers were described as "Chechen mercenaries" fighting with Jabhat al-Nusra, an extreme Islamist group that has links with al-Qaida.
  • (17) Fox, speaking on the steps of the Pentagon after meeting Gates, said: "We have seen significant progress made in the last 72 hours with Gaddafi's forces losing their grip on Misrata and we have received reports of under-age soldiers and foreign mercenaries being captured – this underlines the regimes inability to rely on its own security forces.
  • (18) The secretary-general, Dag Hammarskjöld , focused on finding a political solution for the first few months, but by September, he and his aides were convinced that western interests and mercenaries in Katanga were preventing a settlement, and authorised a UN military offensive there, codenamed Operation Morthor.
  • (19) It is thought the people in the portraits were the direct descendents of the original settlers in the Fayum, who were Greek mercenary soldiers who fought for the Ptolomies.
  • (20) Janjaweed forces that committed genocide in Darfur were frequently linked to Gaddafi: many had once been Islamic Legion members, the rag-tag mercenary army he had created to fulfil his vision of a pan-Arabic band across north Africa.