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Impugn, pugnacious, pugilist: them’s fightin’ words, literally. All three words trace back to the Latin noun pugnus, meaning “fist.” Though they floated like butterflies down different paths into English from that shared source, each stings like a bee (so to speak) in its own way. The noun pugilist refers to a fighter or boxer, while the adjective pugnacious describes someone showing a readiness or desire to fight or argue. The verb impugn today has belligerent implications, albeit of the verbal jousting kind, but in its earliest known English uses in the 1300s, impugn could refer to a physical attack (as in, “the troops impugned the city”) as well as to assaults involving verbal contradiction or dispute. Over time, though, the sense of literal battling has become obsolete while the “assailing by words or arguments” sense has endured.
Examples of impugn in a Sentence
Shamira Ibrahim, refinery29.com, 9 May 2024
The case would pit Jones and her far-right supporters against the president and his formidable legal and political teams; Clinton allies would use a volley of innuendo to try to impugn Jones’s reputation and undermine her charges.
—David Friend, Washington Post, 27 June 2024
This isn’t an attempt to ban speech, or impugn anyone’s First Amendment rights.
—Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 12 June 2024
My patriotism and that of people in other border communities cannot be impugned.
—Jonathan Dekel-Chen, New York Daily News, 6 Mar. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near impugn
Cite this Entry
“Impugn.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impugn. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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impugn
verb
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