pit against

Idioms  

1. Set in direct opposition or competition, as in The civil war pitted brother against brother. This idiom alludes to setting fighting cocks or dogs against one another in a pit. [Mid-1700s]

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Example Sentences

As more women entered the genre, some were uniting on hit records such as “Ladies Night,” while others were pit against each other.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 9, 2023

The 2016 game Deus Ex: Mankind Divided was set in an apartheid society in which “Augs”—people with mechanical enhancements, such as bionic limbs or brain interfaces—were pit against those who remained “natural.”

From The New Yorker • Mar. 15, 2019

Lee was supposed to announce the University of Virginia's home opener football game, but was switched to announce Youngstown State University pit against the University of Pittsburgh instead.

From Time • Aug. 24, 2017

Wang is perhaps the wrong “second generation rich” to pit against, despite the growing income divide in China and what many describe as a rising “rich-hating” mentality in Chinese society.

From Forbes • Feb. 18, 2015

Two thirds of those in the amphitheatre were Englishmen, most of whom were amateurs, who had brought dogs of their own to pit against the regular mastiffs of the establishment.

From Pencillings by the Way Written During Some Years of Residence and Travel in Europe by Willis, N. Parker

Related Words

• break up
• differ
• separate
• split
• vary