Word.ws English Dictionary

watch-dog

watch-dog is the alternative spelling of watchdog.

Meaning of watchdog

Noun

watchdog (plural watchdogs)

  1. A guard dog.
  2. (figuratively) An individual or group that monitors the activities of another entity (such as an individual, corporation, non-profit group, or governmental organization) on behalf of the public to ensure that entity does not behave illegally or unethically.
    • Governments must "outline how they will reassure passengers that it will be as safe as possible to travel by public transport", according to industry watchdogs Transport Focus and London TravelWatch.2020 May 20, “Network News: Watchdogs say clear guidance needed to reassure passengers”, in Rail, page 9

See all 4 meanings of watchdog

Forms of watch-dog

pluralwatch-dogs

Questions about watch-dog

What is watch-dog the alternative spelling of?
Watch-dog is the alternative spelling of watchdog.

Words near watch-dog in the dictionary

  1. watch-births
  2. watch-cap
  3. watch-caps
  4. watch-coat
  5. watch-coats
  6. watch-dog
  7. watch-dogs
  8. watch-jobber
  9. watch-jobbers
  10. watch-night
  11. watch-nights

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: watch-dog (page history and authors); watchdog (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.

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Cite this entry: “watch-dog.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/watch-dog. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.