sparring match

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Over the weekend, he posted a long message complaining that the New York Times was planning to report that he’d gotten roughed up, injuring his shoulder, in a sparring match with an agency jujitsu instructor.

From Slate • Apr. 26, 2025

Kwan: Not faces, it’s back, body, it’s like a sparring match to see who can slap each other more.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 31, 2023

In 1929, Fitzgerald was the timekeeper in a sparring match between Hemingway and the Canadian novelist Morley Callaghan, who years earlier served on the staff at The Toronto Star with Hemingway.

From New York Times • Sep. 21, 2022

At the weekend, the Ukraine squad held what they described as a "sparring match" with one team playing in the "style of the Scottish national team".

From BBC • May 31, 2022

"About Golden Eyes—you were going to tell me something—it's been on my mind all through that little sparring match."

From The Moon Pool by Merritt, Abraham