battle line

noun

|Updated on: 11 Jun 2018

Definition of battle line

1 : a line along which a battle is fought

2 : a line defining the positions of opposing groups in a conflict or controversy —usually used in plural

battle lines were drawn over economic policies

See battle line defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of battle line from the Web

The battle lines were already drawn by Thursday morning, when Trudeau stood alongside French President Emmanuel Macron at a joint news conference.

— ishaan tharoor, Washington Post, "Trump wages war north of the border," 8 June 2018
But battle lines have been so clearly drawn that responses have been predictably extreme.

— greg moore, azcentral, "Moore: NFL's national-anthem response should focus on racism, not protest," 23 May 2018
The battle lines between the two contenders, Stacey Abrams and Stacey Evans, are a little fuzzy in policy terms but do implicate many of the ideological, ethnic, and factional clashes ongoing inside the party.

— matthew yglesias, Vox, "This week’s governor primaries in Georgia, explained," 21 May 2018
When fans complained about sluggish matches that could average an hour or more, Epic tossed the game’s single map overboard in 2016 and redrew the battle lines from scratch.

— steven strom, Ars Technica, "How Epic’s Fortnite rose from the ashes of Paragon’s failure," 11 May 2018
Sign up here Gary Cohn quits the White House, markets get twitchy again, and battle lines drawn on Brexit deal for financial services.

— Bloomberg.com, "Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day," 7 Mar. 2018
There were distinct battle lines drawn across the East Village.

— New York Times, "The Artists Who Defined the East Village’s Avant-Garde Scene," 17 Apr. 2018
Since then, with only the more general version of Hamilton’s rule under consideration, the battle lines of the debate have shifted further.

— jordana cepelewicz, Scientific American, "The Elusive Calculus of Insect Altruism," 26 Apr. 2018
The battle lines were finally drawn Tuesday as nearly 1,000 candidates filed to run for federal, state and judicial offices by a 4 p.m. deadline.

— todd spangler, Detroit Free Press, "Battle lines drawn: Nearly 1,000 file for Michigan primary election," 24 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'battle line.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.