gladiator

«gladiator» in Mova's school dictionary: A gladiator was a man in ancient Rome who fought other… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a gladiator, gladiators)

meaning for a pupil

1) A gladiator was a man in ancient Rome who fought other men or wild animals in an arena to entertain crowds, often with swords, nets or tridents. tree →

2) A gladiator can mean someone who fights hard in a contest or argument (figurative). tree →

sense in the lessons

In history lessons on the Romans, gladiators fought in amphitheatres such as the Colosseum; many were slaves, prisoners or criminals, though some became famous. Pupils discuss why crowds enjoyed such cruel games and how attitudes have changed. Phrases: «gladiator fight», «gladiator school», «in the arena».

examples

• The gladiator fought a lion in the Colosseum. tree →
• Many gladiators were slaves. tree →
• Gladiators trained at special schools. tree →
• Some gladiators used a net and a trident. tree →
• The crowd cheered as the gladiators entered the arena. tree →
• We made gladiator helmets out of card. tree →

note

Countable. Pronounced GLAD-ee-ay-tur. Myth trap: the thumbs-up or thumbs-down signal for life or death is not certain; historians are not sure which gesture meant what.

In the corpora

• For fun, crowds cheered chariot teams at the Circus Maximus, like football fans, and watched gladiators in the Colosseum.
• Not every gladiator fight ended in death, and the thumbs-up or thumbs-down sign may be a modern guess.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «gladiator» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.