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.
In a grueling defensive slugfest with fellow No. 1-seed Texas, the Bruins won 51-44 to advance to Sunday’s national championship game against South Carolina.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 4, 2026
The rhetorical slugfest is growing increasingly ugly to watch.
From Salon • Dec. 15, 2025
McKenzie kicked a penalty to restore the visitors' lead as the game turned into a midfield slugfest which had a distinct end-of-season tang to it.
From Barron's • Nov. 22, 2025
They led the Sydney slugfest 8-0 through a Dylan Pietsch try and a Tom Lynagh penalty at the end of an intense first half.
From BBC • Aug. 2, 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.
