dog-eat-dog

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

See more synonyms for dog-eat-dog on Thesaurus.com

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.

Origin of dog-eat-dog

First recorded in 1930–35

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for dog-eat-dog

aggressive, brutal, competitive, cutthroat, fierce, merciless, ruthless, unmerciful, vicious, voracious

Examples from the Web for dog-eat-dog

Contemporary Examples of dog-eat-dog

The cannibalism is, in typical Sondheim fashion, a cheeky metaphor for the dog-eat-dog capitalism of the day.
12 Craziest Pie Scenes
Marlow Stern
November 21, 2011
His plays have typically been dog-eat-dog affairs; it makes sense that he views politics as trench warfare.
David Mamet's Right Turn
Ben Crair
May 28, 2011

Historical Examples of dog-eat-dog

If we eventually lick the Kradens, one of the very reasons will be because we're a dog-eat-dog society.
Medal of Honor
Dallas McCord Reynolds
I cannot live by the dog-eat-dog code that seems to prevail wherever folk get jammed together in an unwieldy social mass.
North of Fifty-Three
Bertrand W. Sinclair

dog-eat-dog in Culture

dog-eat-dog

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

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.