underdog

noun

un·​der·​dog ˈən-dər-ˌdȯg 

1

: a loser or predicted loser in a struggle or contest

… the biggest obstacle has been the adjustment from underdog last season to contender …

—Mike Wise

2

: a victim of injustice or persecution

… portrayed himself as an honest underdog that the Government would do anything to stop.

—Michael Specter

Examples of underdog in a Sentence

I always root for the underdog instead of the favorite.

As a lawyer, she consistently represented the underdog.

Recent Examples on the Web

From there on out, every story beat will be familiar to anyone who’s ever seen a come-from-behind underdog loser redemption movie. — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 21 July 2026

Who wouldn’t be moved by the heroic performances of underdog countries against the game’s traditional powers, such as tiny Cape Verde and ancient Egypt? — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 20 July 2026

While the road to Canada, Mexico and the United States hosting in 2026 wasn’t smooth, when the first 48-team tournament got underway, the sheer brilliance of the soccer, the legends, the underdogs and the bombast of the fans still took center stage. — Theo Lloyd-Hughes, New York Times, 20 July 2026

Not even those linguistic underdogs Kurdish and Ukrainian are exceptions to this pattern. — Nikhil Krishnan, New Yorker, 20 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1859, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for underdog

• analog
• analogue
• catalogue
• decalogue
• demagogue
• dialogue
• epilogue
• homologue
• monologue
• pedagogue
• synagogue
• tagalog

Kids Definition

underdog

noun

un·​der·​dog ˈən-dər-ˌdȯg 

: the loser or predicted loser in a struggle