First recorded in 1960–65
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For half a century, Moscow and Washington glared and growled at each other, eyeball-to-eyeball.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2022
But the Macron meeting marked a rare opportunity for a Western leader to spend an extended period of time in Putin's company and to gauge, eyeball-to-eyeball, his state of mind.
From Reuters • Feb. 10, 2022
It even sounds like something that might have come from an eyeball-to-eyeball songwriting session with Lennon.
From Washington Times • Sep. 7, 2018
“It is just a lot more intimidating to go eyeball-to-eyeball with law enforcement rather than just going into your local gun shop to buy a gun,” Professor Webster said.
From New York Times • Oct. 21, 2016
John Kennedy had spoken often of some sort of looming showdown with the Soviet Union, some eyeball-to-eyeball moment that would shove the future one way or the other.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
