digladiate

Etymology

From Latin digladiari, from di-, dis- + gladius (“a sword”).

Why this word is great

DIGLADIATE — [Verb] To fight like gladiators; to contend or dispute violently. From Latin digladiari, from di-, dis- ("apart, asunder") + gladius ("sword"). Unlike "contend" (a bloodless abstraction of struggle) or "fence" (a choreographed dance of blunted steel), to digladiate is to clash with the desperation of those fighting for survival. It is the scrape of iron on iron in the arena’s dust, the scholar’s pen dripping venom in a footnote, the way lovers sometimes argue—not to win, but to wound. Beneath every civilized disagreement, there is always the shadow of the sword.

verb

  1. To fight like gladiators; to contend or dispute violently.“Digladiating, like Æschines and Demosthenes, they reciprocally lay open each other's filthiness to the view and scorn of the world.”