How to Use pugilism in a Sentence

pugilism

noun
  • Democrats have moved from pragmatism to pugilism.
    — Domenico Montanaro, NPR, 11 Nov. 2025
  • Its pugilism is polite and thoughtful, but this is a show that very much packs a punch.
    — Steven Litt, cleveland, 17 Oct. 2021
  • Unlike most big-time pugilism spectacles, this fight is not a title bout.
    — TIME.com, 18 Aug. 2017
  • But to the surprise of pugilism pundits worldwide, Álvarez slipped.
    — Sean Gregory, Time, 17 Sep. 2022
  • Of course, the Williamsburg Hotel forces no one to bring pugilism to his/her vacation or work time.
    — Michael Alpiner, Forbes, 25 May 2021
  • It’s made by a Charlestown startup that has a vision of doing for pugilism what Peloton did for cycling.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 19 July 2021
  • But outside of these rare exceptions, Mario’s pugilism was quickly retired in lieu of hammer hits and kid-friendly blows.
    — Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 5 Apr. 2026
  • His brand of right-wing pugilism is similar to what talk-radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin have been doing for decades.
    — Kevin Roose, New York Times, 29 Oct. 2020
  • With that simple statement of faith in a better America, Allen lays out the deeply idealistic roots of his legal pugilism.
    — Steven Gaydos, Variety, 20 Oct. 2021
  • But as Nick Goldberg wrote, Cuomo has a long history of political pugilism.
    — Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2021
  • Being his first foray into professional pugilism, McGregor won rounds against one of the sport’s greatest.
    — Jim Varsallone, miamiherald, 27 Aug. 2017
  • Healey’s time in office has been best known for her pugilism against Trump over everything from his initial travel ban to efforts to roll back environmental protections.
    — Matt Stout, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Sep. 2022
  • Every generation of leftists angrily vents about liberalism’s slim ambitions and its paucity of pugilism.
    — Rosa Inocencio Smith, The Atlantic, 10 Aug. 2017
  • The minority didn’t exactly assign its most conciliatory and pugilism-averse members, either.
    — Dallas News, 6 Feb. 2023
  • The way to win the heart of Americans is not to double down on contempt and pugilism but rather to become the party of ordinary people, with ordinary people as leaders who promote greater unity and happiness.
    — Arthur C. Brooks, The Atlantic, 16 Nov. 2022
  • Some see that same pugilism as a negative, especially when he's used it to deliver sharp upper cuts to top Republican leaders who had once been in his corner and now harshly criticize him as an ungrateful opportunist.
    — Maureen Groppe, Indianapolis Star, 26 Apr. 2018
  • Production sources believed the snub was retaliatory, citing Rudin’s pugilism that embroiled the show in multiple legal disputes on its way to New York - a precursor, perhaps, to his downfall this spring.
    — Lee Seymour, Forbes, 11 June 2021
  • And once Christianity became championed by Rome, one of the most militaristic civilizations the world has known, philosophical discussions on the nature of good and evil became martial instructions for purges and pugilism.
    — Bettany Hughes, New York Times, 8 June 2018
  • The abject failure of the liberal nation-building project in Afghanistan, or the international gridlock in supporting Ukraine’s fledgling democracy against Russia’s pugilism, are just a few recent real-world checks to liberal universalism.
    — Krithika Varagur, The New Yorker, 25 May 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pugilism.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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