dog-eat-dog

adjective

Definition of dog-eat-dognext
as in opportunistic

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dog-eat-dog Rhyme schemes become secondary to dog-eat-dog dogma. — Pitchfork, 10 Dec. 2025 Stability and predictability would be the exception, not the norm, in a dog-eat-dog world. — Alexander Stubb, Foreign Affairs, 2 Dec. 2025 Joy radiates in the room, and a dog-eat-dog environment where people cut each other off is replaced by open collaboration. — Barry Levitt, Time, 19 Sep. 2025 Each episode is built around a tense, dog-eat-dog hunt, where each player becomes either a Predator or Prey. — Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 2 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for dog-eat-dog
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dog-eat-dog
  1. opportunistic
  2. corrupt
  3. depraved
  4. degenerate
  5. debased
  6. debauched
  7. profligate
  8. demoralized
Adjective
  • Wasserman Schultz’s decision to run in the historically Black 20th Congressional District was selfish and opportunistic carpetbagging, a devastating usurpation of power from Black Floridians.
    — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Cover the Soil Like other weeds, ragweed is opportunistic and quickly invades areas of bare soil.
    — Lauren Landers, The Spruce, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of opportunistic
Adjective
  • And Alice’s superior, FBI agent Nora Washington (Quincy Tyler Bernstine), realizes that her corrupt boss Ed George (Danny McCarthy), who was covering up Easton’s crimes, will retain his ASAC position at the FBI.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 31 Aug. 2026
  • That strategy allowed the Kremlin to publicly deny the existence of political repression while portraying the opposition as inherently corrupt.
    — Andrei Soldatov, Foreign Affairs, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of corrupt
Adjective
  • In the mid-1970s, Slash’s mother, the costume designer Ola Hudson, worked on the American production of The Rocky Horror Show, whose Frank-N-Furter is the unmistakable touchstone of Bourzgui’s David, down to the depraved purr.
    — Sarah Grant, Rolling Stone, 14 Aug. 2026
  • But Cheekface will still be here, filtering our depraved mutterings into sardonic bangers.
    — Zach Schonfeld, Pitchfork, 3 Aug. 2026
Definition of depraved
Adjective
  • When the discs degenerate, vertebrae lose the spongy buffer between bones, resulting in pain.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 19 Aug. 2026
  • Or when some man behaving like a degenerate gambler plods into Chelsea Gray’s DMs with a disgusting slur.
    — Candace Buckner, New York Times, 27 July 2026
Definition of degenerate
Adjective
  • That wasn’t its only subject; comedy and power and misogyny and creativity and intergenerational conflict and work ethic and, especially in its last few seasons, the debased state of the entertainment industry were all richly explored through lines.
    — Judy Berman, Time, 8 July 2026
  • And this has lent Margot a debased sort of celebrity.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 Apr. 2026
Definition of debased
Adjective
  • For his story was a record of his most debauched thoughts and desires.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 12 Aug. 2026
  • His dissolute, debauched lifestyle was due for a reckoning and could have sunk into tropes of the season’s theme.
    — Jennifer Maas, Variety, 10 June 2026
Definition of debauched
Adjective
  • This shift occasioned the profligate production that would mark her oeuvre, with Kusama going on to make hundreds of paintings in which forests of lines and dots cradled variously floral and phallic figures.
    — News Desk, Artforum, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Just as life in industrial urban centers in the nineteenth century caused hardship in rural villages, the profligate lifestyles enjoyed by those of us in the Global North are underwritten by the immiseration of those in the Global South.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 July 2026
Definition of profligate
Adjective
  • Despite being outnumbered and outmaneuvered, Washington maintained order among his demoralized troops.
    — Christopher Magra, The Conversation, 10 Feb. 2026
  • The Democratic Party has funneled all the fury of its demoralized and humiliated voter base into a focal point centered on immigration policy.
    — Torrey Snow, Baltimore Sun, 21 Jan. 2026
Definition of demoralized

Browse Nearby Words

dog-eared
dog-eat-dog
dogface
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Dog-eat-dog.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dog-eat-dog. Accessed 3 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

A List of Most Commonly Confused Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 4
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
skateboard-dog-hat
Wordmaxxing Slang Quiz Give your vocabulary a glow up by getting sendy w...
See All