{ Ag′o‐nis″tic (�), Ag′o‐nis″tic‐al (�), } a. [Gr. �. See Agonism.] Pertaining to violent contests, bodily or mental; pertaining to athletic or polemic feats; athletic; combative; hence, strained; unnatural.
As a scholar, he was brilliant, but he consumed his power in agonistic displays.
De Quincey.