dog-eat-dog
[dawg-eet-dawg, dog-eet-dog]
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.
RELATED CONTENT
RELATED WORDS
aggressive, brutal, competitive, cutthroat, fierce, merciless, ruthless, unmerciful, vicious, voracious
Nearby words
- dog-cheap,
- dog-day cicada,
- dog-doo,
- dog-ear,
- dog-eared,
- dog-end,
- dog-leg stair,
- dog-legged,
- dog-paddle,
- dog-poor
Origin of dog-eat-dog
First recorded in 1930–35
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for dog-eat-dog
The cannibalism is, in typical Sondheim fashion, a cheeky metaphor for the dog-eat-dog capitalism of the day.
His plays have typically been dog-eat-dog affairs; it makes sense that he views politics as trench warfare.
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 ReynoldsI 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
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.