Why “propugnator” is a great word
A champion or defender who actively fights or argues in support of a cause, from the Latin prōpugnātor, from prō- (“for, in front of”) + pugnātor (“fighter”), from pugnāre (“to fight”), first attested in English c1429. Unlike an “advocate,” who pleads a case in a forum, or a “guardian,” who provides custodial protection, a propugnator is defined by a stance of militant, often public, contestation. He is the lone voice before the hostile crowd, the knight who plants his banner in contested soil, the writer whose pen carves a bulwark from blank paper—a figure defined not by the safety provided, but by the willing confrontation that belief demands, a tangible presence in the fray.