tug of war

American  

noun

1. an athletic contest between two teams at opposite ends of a rope, each team trying to drag the other over a line.

2. a hard-fought, critical struggle for supremacy.

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tug-of-war British  

noun

1. a contest in which two people or teams pull opposite ends of a rope in an attempt to drag the opposition over a central line

2. any hard struggle, esp between two equally matched factions

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tug of war Idioms  

1. A struggle for supremacy, as in There's a constant political tug of war between those who favor giving more power to the states and those who want a strong federal government. Although there is an athletic contest also so named, in which participants holding either end of a rope try to pull each other across a dividing line, the present usage, first recorded in 1677, predates it by about two centuries. The noun tug itself means “a strenuous contest between two sides,” and war refers to fighting, either physical or figurative.

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Etymology

Origin of tug of war

1670–80 tug of war for def. 2; 1875–80 tug of war for def. 1

Example Sentences

The server maker looks to be in a tug of war between those betting it can recover from one of its co-founders being indicted for alleged export-control violations and those who fear more repercussions.

From Barron's

“Basically, it’s a tug of war,” said Mike Treacy, head of market risk at Apex Fintech Solutions.

From MarketWatch

That tug of war is likely to cement central bank officials’ instincts to sit still and wait for clarity rather than act pre-emptively.

From The Wall Street Journal

Banks could soon be caught in a tug of war between longtime clients and their own investors.

From The Wall Street Journal

It took a messy tug of war with RCR in the middle of the following season to secure his services for 2023.

From The Wall Street Journal