duel
Americannoun
-
duels
plural
-
a prearranged combat between two persons, fought with deadly weapons according to an accepted code of procedure, especially to settle a private quarrel.
-
any contest between two persons or parties.
verb (used with or without object)
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duels,
present (3rd person singular)
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dueled,
past participle, past
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duelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
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dueling,
present participle
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duelling
present participle (especially British)
noun
-
a prearranged combat with deadly weapons between two people following a formal procedure in the presence of seconds and traditionally fought until one party was wounded or killed, usually to settle a quarrel involving a point of honour
-
a contest or conflict between two persons or parties
verb
-
to fight in a duel
-
to contest closely
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
duelsimple
-
duelssimple
-
have dueledperfect
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have duelledperfect
-
has dueledperfect
-
has duelledperfect
-
am duelingprogressive
-
am duellingprogressive
-
are duelingprogressive
-
are duellingprogressive
-
is duelingprogressive
-
is duellingprogressive
-
have been duelingperfect progressive
-
have been duellingperfect progressive
-
has been duelingperfect progressive
-
has been duellingperfect progressive
Past
-
dueledsimple
-
duelledsimple
-
had dueledperfect
-
had duelledperfect
-
was duelingprogressive
-
was duellingprogressive
-
were duelingprogressive
-
were duellingprogressive
-
had been duelingperfect progressive
-
had been duellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of duel
1585–95; earlier duell < Medieval Latin duellum, Latin: earlier form of bellum war, probably maintained and given sense “duel” by association with Latin duo two
Explanation
A duel is a fight between two people, usually using swords or other weapons. If you tend to be a little cowardly, you're probably glad that people aren't expected to defend their honor with a duel these days. The classic definition of a duel is the kind that happens all the time in Shakespeare plays: two men clanking swords together in a battle to the death over some issue of honor or betrayal. Today, the word duel can be used to talk about any kind of contest or struggle — like a duel between political candidates. The word duel can be traced back to both duo, Latin for "two," and also duellum, which means "war."
Vocabulary lists containing duel
Commonly Confused Words, List 1
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Commonly Confused Words, List 3
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UCPS 6th Grade Roots List #5
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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:
But here’s what’s really interesting about this U.S.-Canada duel:
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
It was, indeed, a duel between Yamamoto and Sale.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Sinner and Alcaraz produced a clean sweep of the Grand Slam titles in 2024 and 2025, winning four majors apiece in a duopoly which has morphed into a generational duel.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
By playing directly, even if Liverpool lose the initial duel, they are well placed to pounce upon second balls.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
The duke moved toward her, and Kaltain kept her eyes on the tiled veranda where the duel was to occur.
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
He had survived bandito ambushes and cutthroat plots, shipwrecks and crash-landings and high-sea duels.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
"I can't accept, and we shouldn't accept, losing individual battles, duels, second balls, not winning enough tackles and just getting the momentum of the game going our way," the former Hearts manager added.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
Egyptians in antiquity engaged in sword combat for warfare, but also for competition — Romans utilized swords in gladiator events, rituals and duels.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
His passing accuracy was the best of any player too, while he was also ranked first out of all Premier League outfield players to contest more than 20 ground duels in the league last season.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Sir Cadogan spent half his time challenging people to duels, and the rest thinking up ridiculously complicated passwords, which he changed at least twice a day.
From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling
They had already dueled on the clay of Roland-Garros and the grass of Wimbledon this season, taking one final apiece.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2025
Cody’s Wish dueled leader National Treasure down the stretch.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 4, 2023
The only remaining evidence of the feast, accompanied by milk buns a server calls “Chinese doughnuts,” are the looks of contentment on those who dueled with it.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 28, 2023
You could choose to showcase different sorts of stories with a more positive attitude and still be a hit; see Oprah Winfrey, whose talk show Springer’s dueled with in the ratings.
From New York Times ● Apr. 27, 2023
The two dueled for the first half of the game, but Bobby clearly had the advantage after that and he won on the thirty-ninth move.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
One of these players applied light pressure on Alisson while their other player duelled with Virgil van Dijk, impairing his movement.
From BBC ● Nov. 22, 2025
Fowler, also 25, is an old adversary of McIlroy's from amateur days when they duelled in the 2007 Walker Cup at Royal County Down.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2014
Open ended with Mickelson once again having to settle for being second after he and fellow American Payne Stewart had duelled for the title during a cool and rainy final round.
From Reuters ● Jun. 10, 2014
Although Hamilton and Button duelled for the lead themselves 10 laps later, Goss feels Formula One's last two world champions showed Red Bull exactly how team-mates should behave on track.
From The Guardian ● May 31, 2010
She’d duelled for their freedom, out-pirated the pirates, gained the crew’s respect so well that Blackbeard finally put them ashore lest Hylla take over his ship.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
Cyber company ReliaQuest is dueling online with hacking group ShinyHunters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Despite the dueling proposals, talks between the countries are still in their early stages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
The duo layer backing tracks until they seemingly collapse, like the dueling accenting rhythms of “Soledad” or the spacey and spectacular “Sensación,” which reaches a level of yearning that Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” couldn’t buy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
The cone of silence around the wedding is the only place in which these dueling Swifts can freely coexist.
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026
“He was dueling Dolohov,” shouted Aberforth, “haven’t seen him since!”
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
As the name reflected, the museum contained duelling missions from the start, showcasing American technological advances and telling a more general historical story.
From Salon ● Sep. 25, 2026
Gyokeres could make use of long balls by duelling with defenders in wider areas, looking to run the channels.
From BBC ● May 30, 2026
Max Verstappen continued to apply pressure on McLaren's duelling title rivals on Saturday when, hours after winning the sprint race, he claimed pole position for Sunday's United States Grand Prix.
From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2025
McLaren's duelling pair of world championship leader Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris will be looking warily in their rear-view mirrors this weekend at the United States Grand Prix for Max Verstappen.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2025
Percy had been intimidating enough before - summoning hurricanes, duelling pirates, killing giants in the Colosseum...
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
