DOG-EAT-DOG Definition & Meaning

View synonyms for

dog-eat-dog

[dawg-eet-dawg, dog-eet-dog]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

marked by destructive or ruthless competition; without self-restraint, ethics, etc..
It's a dog-eat-dog industry.

noun

complete egotism; action based on utter cynicism.
The only rule of the marketplace was dog-eat-dog.

dog-eat-dog

Ruthlessly competitive: “You have to look out for your own interests; it's a dog-eat-dog world.”

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of dog-eat-dog¹

First recorded in 1930–35

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Idioms and Phrases

Ruthless acquisition or competition, as in With shrinking markets, it's dog eat dog for every company in this field. This contradicts a Latin proverb which maintains that dog does not eat dog, first recorded in English in 1543. Nevertheless, by 1732 it was put as “Dogs are hard drove when they eat dogs” (Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia).

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

In one episode, his response is, “It’s a dog-eat-dog world, and I’m wearing Milk-Bone underwear.”

From

They will come to office convinced that they see the world as it is and forever has been — a dog-eat-dog, kill-or-be-killed, survival-of-the-fittest jungle filled with threats that are objectively discernible to the vigilant and discerning among us.

From

“The Dark Forest,” the second volume, is named for a view of the universe as a dog-eat-dog struggle for survival in which the best way to survive is to hide.

From

Or maybe just at his dad: “I’m not a dog! I’m not going to adjust to any place that’s dog-eat-dog! I won’t toughen up! And I don’t care about succeeding! I care about Josie!”

From

Based on a Rey Andujar novel and adapted by Cintrón and Laura Conyedo, the film takes an unflinching look at what it means to survive in a dog-eat-dog world in which almost anything — sex, privacy, vengeance — is up for sale, and those who are too poor or not white enough to hustle may end up dead.

From

dog-eared dog-end

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