agonal

adj

1. Of or pertaining to struggle, competition or conflict; of or pertaining to an agon.

   “Even the agonal games which began with the ancient Greeks were playful in their singular devotion to deities. Games were agonal demonstrations of transcendence.”

   “The agonal spirit was strong enough to inspire 'shame' at a failure to fight when the enemy offered battle, but not so strong that it made armies accept battle under any circumstances.”

   “It is because the very basis of their world view, emerging from the deepest recesses of their psyches where their most basic identities were formed from birth – long before they experienced the agonal reality of class – affectively consolidated in the emotional hothouses of their families, is sexuality.”

2. Of or pertaining to the pain of death.

   “In contrast, severe infections are characterized by the development of hypoglycemia during the agonal stages of the disease process as a result of an impaired capacity of the liver to synthesize glucose (LaNoue et al., 1968b; Yeung, 1970; McCallum and Berry, 1973).”

   “The agonal effects associated with prolonged illness may influence the pH, and subsequently a number of chemical substances in the brain.”