Definition of "combat zone" []

• An area where military combat is taking place. (noun)
• An area in a city characterized by economic depression and criminal activity: "a combat zone rife with condemned buildings used by drunks, addicts, and prostitutes” ( Edwin Chen). (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Then the entire combat zone around the Sinyavino Heights and Sinyavino itself would be like ripe fruit for the picking."
• "Set afire by explosives, much of the flora proximate to the combat zone blazed hellishly around Ranji as his floater shot down the canyon he'd chosen."
• "The Tigers reached the 81st Division's combat zone without suffering a single breakdown, and Bölter was immediately deployed with three other Tigers to secure the village of Silène."