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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
Armond White, National Review, 28 Mar. 2025
Berman stressed that the investigation itself does not impugn Montoya or Bay FC.
—Jerry McDonald, The Mercury News, 7 Mar. 2025
Some of the officials involved have embraced a tactic of impugning Goldberg as a strawman diversion from the real controversy.
—Tony Bradley, Forbes.com, 26 Mar. 2025
Rather, it is being used to impugn Baldoni's character and demonstrate malicious intent on his part.
—Barbara A. Perry, Newsweek, 27 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for impugn
Cite this Entry
“Impugn.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impugn. Accessed 5 Jun. 2025.
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impugn
verb
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