From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgladiatorglad‧i‧a‧tor /ˈɡlædieɪtə $ -ər/ noun [countable] SHAPa soldier who fought against other men or wild animals as an entertainment in ancient Rome —gladiatorial /ˌɡlædiəˈtɔːriəl◂/ adjective gladiatorial combat
Examples from the Corpus
gladiator• A gladiator named Justice holding the distinctive Salinas head in one hand, a bloodied sword in the other.• Beside him Carol watched the modern-day gladiators as they came at each other.• Doug winds this invisible gladiator in by bitter degrees, inches rather than feet at a time.• You were both circling like gladiators.• Helmeted, armed with long, spear-like boards, the surfers looked like gladiators going out to engage in mortal combat.• Few studies are such ambitious efforts to explain the entire set of gladiators in a political society.• Comparative data in Chapter 3 suggested that in most countries few adults are political gladiators.• It might be argued that political gladiators are no different than other people but that certain chance events propel them into activism.Origin gladiator (1500-1600) Latin gladius “sword” 