eyeball-to-eyeball

[ahy-bawl-tuh-ahy-bawl, -too-]

adjective

1. close or direct and often hostile; face-to-face.

   an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation.

Word History and Origins

Origin of eyeball-to-eyeball¹

First recorded in 1960–65

Idioms and Phrases

Face to face; especially, about to begin a conflict. For example, We are eyeball to eyeball with the enemy, or In the playoffs we go eyeball to eyeball with the Yankees, or In the first debate our candidate's going eyeball to eyeball with his opponent. This term was originally used only in a military context but later entered civilian language, particularly in political or sports confrontations. [Colloquial; c. 1950]

Example Sentences

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.

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“This is an eyeball-to-eyeball state,” he said.

Read more on Seattle Times

“Humility had absolutely nothing to do with my piece. King’s head is tilted forward — not bowed — so that someone standing below will have a kind of eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with him,” he told the Associated Press.

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So when I first arrived at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley on Wednesday, the images of the 40th president — in cowboy garb or eyeball-to-eyeball with Gorbachev or loving up Nancy or putting a golf ball in the Oval Office — left me cold.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

For half a century, Moscow and Washington glared and growled at each other, eyeball-to-eyeball.

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Related Words

• argument 
• conference 
• consultation 
• conversation 
• deliberation 
• dialogue 
• interview 
• meeting 
• negotiation 
• seminar 
• symposium 
• visit