gladiatorial
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of gladiatorial
1745–55; < Latin gladiātōri ( us ) ( gladiator, -tory 1 ) + -al 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The origins of gladiatorial combat are unknown, though it was generally agreed by the Romans that it had been a foreign import.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
That it is, but it is also about the society that permitted gladiatorial combat—more than permitted it, enjoyed it as entertainment.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
No doubt football is suffused with gladiatorial bravado.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 22, 2024
It is gladiatorial – it is all Hardy knows.
From BBC • Oct. 1, 2024
So did Dorothy Fowler, who fumed to a visitor one day, “This community doesn’t want academic excellence. It wants a gladiatorial spectacle on a Friday night.”
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
