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pugilista

boxer

noun poo-hee-LEES-tah Rare
People & Society Community

Origin: From Latin pugil ('fighter with fists').

Usage Note

Pugilista is a formal or literary synonym for boxeador ('boxer'); the corresponding sport is pugilismo or boxeo. The noun is common gender: el pugilista for a man, la pugilista for a woman, with no change in form. In everyday speech boxeador is far more frequent; pugilista appears mostly in sports journalism and historical writing.

Examples

"El pugilista entrenó durante meses."

Natural Translation

The boxer trained for months.

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