gladiatorial

English

Etymology

From Latin gladiātōrius +‎ -al. By surface analysis, gladiator +‎ -ial.

Pronunciation

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• Rhymes: -ɔːɹiəl

Adjective

gladiatorial (comparative more gladiatorial, superlative most gladiatorial)

1. Of or pertaining to a gladiator.

   Gladiatorial entertainment was common in ancient Rome.

   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 313:

     "And all the better for yourself if you never enter the gladiatorial arena of public life: you will sacrifice time, health, and talents; you will be paragraphed—probably pelted; you will die of an inflammation, or a consumption; and leave it a debatable point to historians, what was the extent of the injury you did your country."

   • 2026 June 15, Michelle Goldberg, “The UFC 250 Was a Garish Spectacle of American Decline”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Think of it: On the 250th anniversary of our country’s founding, America’s increasingly senescent president turned the White House lawn into a tacky, bloody gladiatorial arena while capitulating to Iran.

Derived terms

• gladiatorialism
• gladiatorially

Related terms

• gladiator
• gladiatress
• gladiatrix

Translations

of or pertaining to a gladiator

• Belarusian: гладыя́тарскі (hladyjátarski)
• French: gladiatorial (fr)
• Latin: gladiatorius
• Polish: gladiatorski (pl)
• Russian: гладиа́торский (ru) (gladiátorskij)
• Ukrainian: гладіа́торський (hladiátorsʹkyj)