Meaning & use
Palooka
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An informal term, especially in American slang, for a clumsy or unskilled boxer, or more broadly, a stupid or incompetent person.
See it in a sentence
The old trainer dismissed the new fighter as just another palooka with no real talent.
He felt like a palooka after fumbling the presentation in front of the whole office.
A note on using this word
The word rose to popularity in the 1920s American boxing scene and was later immortalized in the comic strip character Joe Palooka.
Words with a similar meaning
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