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pugilistic

Other forms: pugilistically

If you're pugilistic, you're a boxer — or you just like to fight. When you're heading to watch a boxing match, you could say you're going to see a pugilistic event (and you'll sound really smart).

A professional boxer can be described as pugilistic, but a middle school kid who's always getting in fist fights is also pugilistic. Another word for a boxer or a fighter is a pugilist, which comes from the Latin pugil, "boxer or fist fighter." This root is also related to the word pugnus, "fist," and pugnacious, "combative or fond of fighting."

Definitions of pugilistic
  1. adjective
    of or relating to pugilism or pugilists
    “a pugilistic career”
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