duel

1 of 2

noun

du·​el ˈdü-əl 

 also  ˈdyü-

1

: a combat between two persons

specifically : a formal combat with weapons fought between two persons in the presence of witnesses

2

: a conflict between antagonistic persons, ideas, or forces

also : a hard-fought contest between two opponents

duel

2 of 2

verb

dueled or duelled; dueling or duelling

intransitive verb

: to fight a duel

transitive verb

: to encounter (an opponent) in a duel

dueler noun

or dueller

duelist noun

or duellist

ˈd(y)ü-ə-list 

Synonyms

Noun

• ball game
• battle
• combat
• competition
• conflict
• confrontation
• contention
• contest
• dogfight
• face-off
• grapple
• match
• rivalry
• strife
• struggle
• sweepstakes
• sweep-stake
• tug-of-war
• war
• warfare

Examples of duel in a Sentence

Noun

They engaged in a duel of wits.

a duel for the title of captain of the team

Verb

He accepted the challenge to duel.

Legislators dueled over the tax increases.

The two runners dueled for the lead.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The city’s remaining streets seem haunted after two years of artillery duels. —Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, 23 Feb. 2024

The duel athlete started in 22 baseball games as a redshirt freshman in 2018-2019, reported Sports Illustrated. —Skyler Caruso, Peoplemag, 20 Feb. 2024

The Cougars won the duel in Pullman last month by three points and are the Pac-12’s hottest team. —Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 19 Feb. 2024

Johnson started 18th in the first of two duels — which determine the third to 40th positions in the race as Wednesday’s qualifying session locked Joey Logano and Michael McDowell into the front row — and began the final lap in the back of the field. —Shane Connuck, Charlotte Observer, 16 Feb. 2024

Each duel race is 60 laps, and the finishes determine which row a driver will start on Sunday. —Ellen J. Horrow, USA TODAY, 13 Feb. 2024

As the Missouri Senate remains mired in conflict, some senators are considering an old way to settle their disputes – the duel. —Jonathan Shorman, Kansas City Star, 25 Jan. 2024

The tit-for-tat legal duel centered on a voluntary manslaughter case that — when charges were first filed more than three years ago — represented the first time in more than a decade that a law enforcement officer in Alameda County had faced criminal prosecution in the death of a civilian. —Jakob Rodgers, The Mercury News, 22 Mar. 2024

The cola duel continues The two beverage giants have traded blows for decades and if Subway’s deal with Pepsi is any indication, the two companies will continue to battle for the top spot in the beverage industry. —Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 20 Mar. 2024

Verb

Coached by George Raveling, the ’92 Trojans were dueling with a powerhouse UCLA team that became a No. 1 seed and an Arizona team that earned a No. 3 seed. —Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 2 Apr. 2024

But the intensifying battle to replace him, between Senators John Cornyn of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota and possibly others, is really a throwback to an earlier era, when leadership races in Congress were crowded and sometimes messy affairs featuring prominent figures and dueling factions. —Carl Hulse, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2024

After an early Blue Raider goal by Colton Parks, Thomas MacLeod made it 2-0 in the 48th minute beating a Charger defender to the ball then out dueling the goal keeper. —Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 27 Mar. 2024

Contestants shoot from the lip and from the quip at each other, dueling and fooling with a topic that they’re given on the spot. —Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Mar. 2024

The result has been a commission divided by two dueling political factions, with Lago and Anderson on one side, and Castro and Fernandez on the other. —Tess Riski, Miami Herald, 27 Feb. 2024

At last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference gathering, outside Washington, D.C., a group of white commentators chose to discuss the bizarre notion of Harris duelling Michelle Obama for the Presidential nomination at this summer’s Democratic National Convention. —Peter Slevin, The New Yorker, 27 Feb. 2024

Whitmer, Tlaib back dueling Democratic ideas in primary With Election Day upon us, two Democratic Michigan officials are leading in different directions. —Arpan Lobo, Detroit Free Press, 27 Feb. 2024

Those duelling briefs reflect a growing divide on reproductive rights between the parties—if not their voters. —Amy Davidson Sorkin, The New Yorker, 24 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, from Medieval Latin duellum, from Old Latin, war

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

circa 1645, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Kids Definition

duel

1 of 2 noun

du·​el ˈd(y)ü-əl 

1

: a combat between two persons

especially : one fought with weapons in the presence of witnesses

2

: a conflict between two opponents

duel

2 of 2 verb

dueled or duelled; dueling or duelling

: to fight in a duel

dueler noun

or dueller

duelist noun

or duellist

ˈd(y)ü-ə-ləst 

Etymology

Noun

from Latin duellum "duel," from an archaic form of earlier bellum "war"; revived in the Middle Ages to mean combat between two persons because the du- suggested Latin duo "two"