Definition of "bare-knuckle" [bare-knuckle]

• Without gloves: boxers fighting bare-knuckle. (adverb)
• Wearing no gloves: an undefeated bare-knuckle champion. (adjective)
• Slang Of a fiercely implacable character: the bare-knuckle world of commercial real estate. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Personally, I would have liked to see Anthony Michael Hall pull the upset on Judd Nelson, matching up with Emilio Estevez in a bare-knuckle brawl to see who walks away with the prom queen."
• "A bare-knuckle, action-driven series, peppered with social commentary and dark humor, STRANGE GIRL is a story about the bewildering nature of religion, what would happen if the dark future predicted by many came true, and what a good person would endure for not having faith in advance of it."
• "But the bare-knuckle fight I attended was very impressive."