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• dog-eat-dog
  dog-eat-dog

  adjective

  marked by destructive or ruthless competition; without self-restraint, ethics, etc..
• dog eat dog
  dog eat dog

  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).

dog-eat-dog

American  

[dawg-eet-dawg, dog-eet-dog] / ˈdɔg itˈdɔg, ˈdɒg itˈdɒg /

adjective

1. marked by destructive or ruthless competition; without self-restraint, ethics, etc..

   It's a dog-eat-dog industry.

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noun

1. complete egotism; action based on utter cynicism.

   The only rule of the marketplace was dog-eat-dog.

dog-eat-dog Cultural  

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

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dog eat dog Idioms  

1. 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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Etymology

Origin of dog-eat-dog

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dog-eat-dog dog eat dog

“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 Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2024

He just wanted to play, so he pushed on in what he's called the dog-eat-dog world of professional rugby, disastrously as it turned out.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2023

Strong: This father wants his kids to survive in a dog-eat-dog world, and wants to toughen him up for that world.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2022

The strong are not safe either in that kind of dog-eat-dog world — they are at risk from each other.

From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2022

Life on the streets was a dog-eat-dog world.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

Conversely, U.S. businesses exhibiting "toxicity" - where employees use idioms as specific as "good ol' boys club" and "dog eat dog" - have vastly underperformed, Wu said.

From Reuters ● Oct. 20, 2021

The floor had upheld a basic standard for political behavior so it was not just dog eat dog.

From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2020

All of which is to say that today’s movie landscape is, as ever, a dog eat dog world.

From Washington Times ● Feb. 19, 2020

And it's a choice, if you're operating in this system that we have, which in America is a very carnivorous one: it's very dog eat dog.

From Salon ● Jul. 16, 2019

In this world of dog eat dog, it is rare to find a friend ... a really sincere friend ... or so I thought.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole