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gladiatorial

American  
[glad-ee-uh-tawr-ee-uhl, -tohr-] / ˌglæd i əˈtɔr i əl, -ˈtoʊr- /

adjective

  1. of or relating to gladiators or to their combats.

gladiatorial British  
/ ˌɡlædɪəˈtɔːrɪəl /

adjective

  1. of, characteristic of, or relating to gladiators, combat, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of gladiatorial

1745–55; < Latin gladiātōri ( us ) ( see 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 best that can be done, he holds, is to “construct a tentative program of gladiatorial training.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

The gladiatorial stadium stands between England and parity in the Ashes series.

From BBC • Dec. 2, 2025

If you tuned into the Culture, Media and Sport committee hearing on Monday expecting a gladiatorial showdown, you'd have been left wondering where the swords were.

From BBC • Nov. 24, 2025

But we aren’t going to get it as long as we indulge the rhetorical gladiatorial fantasies of the “Debate Me” Bros.

From Salon • Sep. 17, 2025

Demons were perched all around me on derelict equipment and abandoned train cars like the audience of a gladiatorial match.

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

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.