as in toe-to-toe
in direct confrontation or competition
it's fitting that the two best teams during the regular season will go head-to-head for the championship
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of head-to-head
The Cup Series race in Joliet will be the second race of NASCAR's five-race In-Season Challenge, with drivers competing head-to-head in a bracket-style competition for a $1 million prize.
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Jori Parys,
CBS News,
29 June 2026
Palm Beach edges Florida via head-to-head results for 3rd, as does Bay Area over Carolina for 5th.
—
Todd Boss,
Forbes.com,
29 June 2026
The Yankees and Jays finished with the same 94-68 record, but Toronto won the head-to-head tiebreaker and, thus, the division.
—
Peter Sblendorio,
New York Daily News,
29 June 2026
There are 16 head-to-head matchups Sunday at Sonoma, with the highest finisher advancing to the next round.
—
ABC News,
27 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for head-to-head
Jori Parys,
CBS News,
29 June 2026
Palm Beach edges Florida via head-to-head results for 3rd, as does Bay Area over Carolina for 5th.
—
Todd Boss,
Forbes.com,
29 June 2026
The Yankees and Jays finished with the same 94-68 record, but Toronto won the head-to-head tiebreaker and, thus, the division.
—
Peter Sblendorio,
New York Daily News,
29 June 2026
There are 16 head-to-head matchups Sunday at Sonoma, with the highest finisher advancing to the next round.
—
ABC News,
27 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for head-to-head
Recent Examples of Synonyms for head-to-head
Adverb
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Revolut believes that coming into the office and having that face-to-face experience is critical to the development of its budding professionals.
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The movie was featured this past weekend at Prime Video’s all-day inaugural immersive event Obsessed Fest which brought fans face-to-face with the stars, creators and worlds behind the most buzzworthy YA, romance and book adaptation titles.
Adverb
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Perkins, who is CEO of Canva, addressed head-on the concerns among many who work in creative industries about the potential for AI to supplant human labor.
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Figures of Crisis makes productive use of this commonplace idea by tackling it head-on and turning it inside out.
Cite this Entry
“Head-to-head.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/head-to-head. Accessed 3 Jul. 2026.
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