armed combat vs battle

armed combat and battle both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
armed combat	Yes	No	No	No
battle	Yes	No	Yes	No

As nouns, battle is a hypernym of armed combat; that is, battle is a word with a broader meaning than armed combat:

armed combat: an engagement fought between two military forces
battle: a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war

Other hypernyms of armed combat include conflict, engagement, fight.

armed combat (noun)	battle (noun)
an engagement fought between two military forces	a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war
	an energetic attempt to achieve something
	an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals)

armed combat (verb)	battle (verb)
	battle or contend against in or as if in a battle