Sparring

//ˈspɑːɹɪŋ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of one who spars. countable, uncountable

    "Albeit he is under the influence of the magic juice, Lysander's words to Hermia — once he has switched his romantic allegiance to Helena — are bitter, cruel. At times Benedick and Beatrice's verbal sparrings drip with an acidity that smarts."

  2. 2
    making the motions of attack and defense with the fists and arms; a part of training for a boxer wordnet
  3. 3
    an argument in which the participants are trying to gain some advantage wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of spar form-of, gerund, participle, present

Example

More examples

"However not attacking your partner in sparring is not a kindness!"

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