noun, slang ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A baseball game in which many runs are scored, especially by home runs. slang

   "The game turned into a 15-9 slugfest."

2. 2
   a fight with bare fists wordnet
3. 3
   A game or match in which heavy blows are exchanged. slang

   "The championship bout was a slugfest; both boxers were bloodied."

4. 4
   A tough, heated contest. figuratively, slang

   "Lakers win slugfest over Clippers"

Synonyms

All synonyms

fistfightfistfightfisticuffs

Example

More examples

"The game turned into a 15-9 slugfest."

Etymology

Originally US, from slug (“to hit very hard”) + -fest.

Related phrases

exchange of blows

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.