Ag·o·nis·tic Ag·o·nis·tic·al a. Pertaining to violent contests, bodily or mental; pertaining to athletic or polemic feats; athletic; combative; hence, strained; unnatural.
As a scholar, he [Dr. Parr] was brilliant, but he consumed his power in agonistic displays. --De Quincey.
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agonistical
adj : striving to overcome in argument; "a dialectical and
agonistic approach" [syn: agonistic, combative]