battleground

• battle ground
• battle-ground

battle +‎ ground

• IPA^(key): /ˈbætəlˌɡɹaʊnd/

battleground (plural battlegrounds)

1. A location where a battle may be fought, or has been fought.

   The farmer's field was a civil war battleground, and relics such a minnie bullets were frequently found while plowing.

2. (figurative) Any place or situation of dispute or contention
   • 1994, Andrew Scott (lyrics and music), “People of the Sky”, in Twice Removed:

     And now the two of them are lost in a screaming battleground

3. (figurative) Any subject of dispute or contention.

   Abortion was becoming the season's big political battleground.

4. (US politics) Ellipsis of battleground state.
   • 2020 November 1, “Election at Hand, Biden Leads Trump in Four Key States, Poll Shows”, in New York Times‎:

     Mr. Biden, the former vice president, is ahead of Mr. Trump in the Northern battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, as well as in the Sun Belt states of Florida and Arizona, according to a poll of likely voters conducted by The New York Times and Siena College.

• battlefield

• battlespace