dog eat dog
UK/dɒɡ iːt dɒɡ/US/dɔɡ it dɔɡ/
dog eat dog adjective: ruthlessly acquisitive or competitive; of a business or other set of circumstances, trying to succeed at the expense of other people.
Adjective
dog eat dog (not comparable)
- Ruthlessly acquisitive or competitive; of a business or other set of circumstances, trying to succeed at the expense of other people.
- dog-eat-dog world
- In this company it's dog eat dog. If you don't do better than the rest, you're on the street in next to no time.
- Synonyms:
- every man for himself, kill or be killed
dog eat dog meaning in Arabic
dog eat dog in Arabic
- harsh and ruthless
- قَانُون الغَابَة qānūn al-ḡāba
Examples of dog eat dog in a sentence
- He has acted upon the principle of dog eat dog; and has fallen upon his own-brethren of the broad sheet, saying worse of them almost than I ever did; but still not half so bad as they "deserve.1825 December 10, “To My True Disciples”, in Cobbett's Political Register, page 661:
- In that event, as clear as fog, / You'll know what's meant by dog eat dog!1851 April, The Knickerbocker; Or, New-York Monthly Magazine:
- As for the game I came on them, it was dog eat dog, anyway.1889, William Dena Howells, A Hazard of New Fortunes, page 266:
- It's a losing game I play / In a dog eat dog, show biz town / I've got a dream of my own / And I carry my own weight / But still they try to drag me down1978, Chaka Khan, “A Woman in a Man's World”, in Chaka:
Synonyms of dog eat dog
Forms of dog eat dog
| alternative form | dog-eat-dog |
|---|---|
| alternative form | doggy dog |
| alternative form | doggy-dog |
Origin of dog eat dog
From dog + eat + dog. Derived from Latin canis caninam non est (“a dog does not eat the flesh of a dog”).
Questions about dog eat dog
- What does dog eat dog mean?
- Dog eat dog means ruthlessly acquisitive or competitive; of a business or other set of circumstances, trying to succeed at the expense of other people.
- What is dog eat dog in Arabic?
- Dog eat dog in Arabic is قَانُون الغَابَة (qānūn al-ḡāba). See Dog eat dog meaning in Arabic.
- How do you use dog eat dog in a sentence?
- He has acted upon the principle of dog eat dog; and has fallen upon his own-brethren of the broad sheet, saying worse of them almost than I ever did; but still not half so bad as they "deserve.
- What part of speech is dog eat dog?
- Dog eat dog is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce dog eat dog?
- Dog eat dog is pronounced /dɒɡ iːt dɒɡ/ (UK).
Words near dog eat dog in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dog eat dog (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “dog eat dog.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dog_eat_dog. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.