bruiser
noun
Simple meaning
An athlete whose size, strength, and/or aggressiveness make it likely that they will cause athletes on the opposing team to suffer physical punishment.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
broozerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɹuzɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
sports
In contact sports, an athlete whose size, strength, and/or aggressiveness make it likely that they will cause athletes on the opposing team to suffer physical punishment.
A large and strong and heavyset man
A professional boxer.
A person who enjoys arguing with others.
A machine for bruising oats.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: In contact sports, an athlete whose size, strength, and/or aggressiveness make it likely that they will cause athletes on the opposing team to suffer physical punishment.
Used this way, bruiser is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. This is a sporting use: familiar to anyone who follows the game, and puzzling to anyone who does not.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Blunt and forceful
Where it naturally appears
- Sports
- News/reporting
- Everyday conversation
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Injure the underlying soft tissue or bone of.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Keep learning “bruiser” by choosing the kind of practice you need next.
- Practice sentence writingWrite sentences with vocabulary and get instant feedback.
- Practice in contextAnswer short vocabulary questions drawn from real situations.
- Review vocabularyTest your recall and strengthen words over time.
- Practice typingType vocabulary in short rounds that draw from words you've learned and saved.
Want to type words like this one without looking at the keyboard? Each typing round draws from words you've learned, saved or need to review. Follow the free Learn to Type lessons and type your own vocabulary with confidence.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.