noun
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close quarters combat between fighter aircraft
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any rough violent fight
Etymology
Origin of dogfight
1650–60; 1915 dogfight for def. 2; dog + fight
Vocabulary lists containing dogfight
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Mexico and Brazil are in a caramelo dogfight.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026
“In the skies over Korea in 1952, Royce was in the dogfight of a lifetime, a legendary dogfight,” Trump said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026
It was a dogfight and Italy's dogs were just that bit more menacing.
From BBC ● Feb. 7, 2026
Last weekend Osasuna winger Munoz impressed as his team won away for the first time all season, for back-to-back wins to take them away from the relegation dogfight.
From Barron's ● Jan. 30, 2026
Evans could swing his little sixteen-inch telescope around like a tail gunner in a dogfight, spending no more than a couple of seconds on any particular point in the sky.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
Known for: Highly maneuverable, supersonic light fighter, excellent dogfighting capabilities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
The Pentagon calls it “synchronized proximity maneuvers,” which is what happens when military bureaucrats try to describe dogfighting in space without using the word “dogfighting.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2025
Gen. Pamela Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel also issued statements condemning dogfighting and lauding the conviction of Johnson.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2025
These dogs are reminders that even now, 12 years later, survivors of former NFL quarterback Michael Vick’s dogfighting operation live on in pockets throughout the country, including here at Best Friends Animal Society’s 3,700-acre sanctuary.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 18, 2019
How could pilots navigate these powerful planes—traveling at hundreds of miles an hour—while looking at the cockpit gauges, listening to the radio, evading antiaircraft fire, and dogfighting?
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
At every stage, you are jostled along by reports of your ongoing accomplishments—thirty thousand steps taken, fifty alien words collected, ten pirate ships dogfought.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 10, 2016
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
