cut-and-thrust vs fighting

cut-and-thrust and fighting both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
cut-and-thrust	Yes	No	No	No
fighting	Yes	Yes	No	No

As nouns, fighting is a hypernym of cut-and-thrust; that is, fighting is a word with a broader meaning than cut-and-thrust:

Other hypernyms of cut-and-thrust include combat, fight, scrap.

cut-and-thrust (noun)	fighting (noun)
fighting with knives	the act of fighting; any contest or struggle

cut-and-thrust (adjective)	fighting (adjective)
	engaged in or ready for military or naval operations