as in boxer
one that engages in the sport of fighting with the fists
a pugilist with the trademark of the boxing ring: a nose that showed signs of having been broken on more than one occasion
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Recent Examples of pugilist
Even Kamala Harris, maybe especially Harris, fits that insider image, and certainly Gavin Newsom, despite zigzagging from centrist to pugilist, can’t forward his presidential ambitions as anything but old-guard.
—
Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 27 June 2025
Bernthal, with his handsome pugilist’s profile, plays Braxton’s emotions explosively close to the surface.
—Tom Gliatto, People.com, 25 Apr. 2025
He was swept up in the swirl of decade-defining events surrounding Muhammad Ali as well as Joe Frazier and other high-wattage pugilists of the 1970s.
—Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 22 Mar. 2025
Eriksen can be a skilled on-ball creator but is more poet than pugilist when competing for loose balls.
—Carl Anka, The Athletic, 17 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pugilist
Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 27 June 2025
Bernthal, with his handsome pugilist’s profile, plays Braxton’s emotions explosively close to the surface.
—Tom Gliatto, People.com, 25 Apr. 2025
He was swept up in the swirl of decade-defining events surrounding Muhammad Ali as well as Joe Frazier and other high-wattage pugilists of the 1970s.
—Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 22 Mar. 2025
Eriksen can be a skilled on-ball creator but is more poet than pugilist when competing for loose balls.
—Carl Anka, The Athletic, 17 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pugilist
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pugilist
Noun
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Sydney Sweeney has had quite the year, starring in both the boxer biopic Christy and the gripping thriller The Housemaid.—
Meg Walters,
InStyle,
11 Jan. 2026
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David Bowie personally appears on the cover of 24 of his solo albums, depicting himself as a bowl-cut heartthrob, an androgynous blond, a space alien in human disguise, a cigarette-smoking lounge creature, a sideways pair of legs, and an oddly undersized boxer.—
Armin Rosen,
The Washington Examiner,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Estimates placed the number of fighters at roughly 800, with militants reportedly crossing the border under the pretense of religious pilgrimages before gathering at a base in Ahvaz and being dispatched to various regions.—
Efrat Lachter,
FOXNews.com,
8 Jan. 2026
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Russia also has invested heavily in Venezuela’s oil industry, as did China, and offered Caracas generous loans to purchase top-of-the-line air defense missiles, fighter jets and other weapons.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
8 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pugilist.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pugilist. Accessed 15 Jan. 2026.
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