duel
Americannoun
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a prearranged combat between two persons, fought with deadly weapons according to an accepted code of procedure, especially to settle a private quarrel.
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any contest between two persons or parties.
verb (used with or without object)
noun
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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
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a contest or conflict between two persons or parties
verb
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to fight in a duel
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to contest closely
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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duelsimple
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duelssimple
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have dueledperfect
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have duelledperfect
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has dueledperfect
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has duelledperfect
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am duelingprogressive
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am duellingprogressive
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are duelingprogressive
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are duellingprogressive
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is duelingprogressive
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is duellingprogressive
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have been duelingperfect progressive
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have been duellingperfect progressive
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has been duelingperfect progressive
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has been duellingperfect progressive
Past
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dueledsimple
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duelledsimple
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had dueledperfect
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had duelledperfect
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was duelingprogressive
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was duellingprogressive
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were duelingprogressive
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were duellingprogressive
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had been duelingperfect progressive
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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:
Why did book lovers stop just short of challenging Kondo to a duel over something she didn’t actually say?
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
The fact that Argentina have the worst aerial duel success rate of the final four should give England hope that their threat in the air can continue.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Through most of the game, the excitement was contained to a pitcher’s duel — a chess game of defensive plays, waiting to see who flinched first.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026
As the Pratt and Bass characters duel with light-sabers, the video closes with a cri de coeur: “L.A. is worth saving.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 24, 2026
There were only sixteen of them left now—sixteen Champions, and four of them were to duel.
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
Across the past two Premier League seasons, Lacroix recorded the best success rate in one-on-one defensive situations among players to face at least 50 such duels, winning possession 50.5% of the time.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
With opposition sides matching up man-for-man, the game then becomes a series of one-against-one duels, so strong players who can beat their defender are exceptionally valuable.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
De la Fuente reinforced that idea before Lamine Yamal won more duels than any of his team-mates in the quarter-final victory against Belgium.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
A special mention should go to Bosnia-Herzegovina's Jovo Lukic who was absolutely flawless in the air against Canada, winning all nine of his aerial duels.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
Zack and Alex and Auggie and I would literally spend hours running around down there, having all-day lightsaber duels and hop ball races.
From "Auggie & Me" by R. J. Palacio
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
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
Strome and Milano, teenagers at the time, dueled in a shootout after a winner couldn’t be decided in overtime.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 20, 2023
Philly fans dueled with folks from Kansas City near concessions lines and back corridors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2023
Watching him now, she realized that Syrio had only been toying with her when they dueled.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
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
The cone of silence around the wedding is the only place in which these dueling Swifts can freely coexist.
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026
For months, Uber and lawyers from across the state poured tens of millions into dueling ballot measures that threatened to devastate the profits of whichever side lost.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
Known as “America’s Resort,” the Greenbrier is now caught between dueling lawsuits and barbs traded by a wealthy U.S. senator and the deep-pocketed owners of more than 50 luxury hotels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
They have dueling AI models, with OpenAI generally considered to be stronger in the consumer space with its ChatGPT chatbot and Anthropic having the edge External link in corporate applications.
From Barron's ● May 19, 2026
This was a different kind of opponent, though, and Bobby hadn’t mastered the techniques of dueling with international financial institutions.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
London's Metropolitan Police said ahead of the duelling events that it would mount one of its largest operations in recent years, as the British capital also hosts the FA Cup Final.
From Barron's ● May 16, 2026
Teams have deliberately looked to play long against Liverpool, which has also introduced more end-to-end running and duelling.
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2026
At the start of Jigsaw Falling Into Place, Yorke and Greenwood face each other and play duelling guitars.
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2025
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
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.
