slugfest
Americannoun
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a baseball game in which both teams make many runs and extra-base hits.
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a boxing bout in which the boxers exchange powerful blows vigorously and aggressively with little care for defense.
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an intense conflict or combat.
noun
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a boxing match in which opponents trade heavy blows
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any sporting contest between powerful and evenly matched opponents
Etymology
Origin of slugfest
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.
Djokovic, 39, enters the match after surviving a grueling five-set, 5-hour-plus quarterfinal slugfest against No. 3 Félix Auger-Aliassime that concluded just minutes before Wimbledon’s 11 p.m. curfew.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
Mr. Bayliss gives a cogent account of the Peloponnesian War, a 27-year slugfest that finally resulted in Sparta’s domination.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
In an enthralling game on Sunday night, the 49ers earned a thrilling 42-38 victory from a toe-to-toe slugfest with the Chicago Bears.
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2025
The rhetorical slugfest is growing increasingly ugly to watch.
From Salon ● Dec. 15, 2025
“Now where was I? Oh yeah, Hades will be mad at both Zeus and Poseidon, because he doesn’t know who took this. Pretty soon, we got a nice little three-way slugfest going.”
From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan
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.
