Pugilist
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 One who fights with their fists, especially a professional prize fighter; a boxer.
"I laugh and hoot at ye, ye cricket-players, ye pugilists, ye deaf Burkes and blind Bendigoes!"
- 2 someone who fights with their fists for sport wordnet
- 3 One who engages in rhetorical attacks, for himself or on behalf of another. figuratively
"President Obama's style leaves liberal activists in the Democratic Party cold. They prefer a pugilist fighting for principle over a pragmatist agreeing to compromises. Can the president reignite the enthusiasm of his party's core supporters by November?"
Example
More examples"I remained in the study, turning the whole matter over and over in my head, and feeling as sombre as ever I had done in my life. What was the past of this Trevor, pugilist, traveller, and gold-digger, and how had he placed himself in the power of this acid-faced seaman?"
Etymology
From Latin pugil (“boxer”) + -ist, related to pugnus (“fist”), from Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ- (“prick, punch”). Compare contemporary pugilism (“boxing”) (1791).
Related phrases
More for "pugilist"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.