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
dueled or duelled; dueling or duelling
: to fight a duel
: to encounter (an opponent) in a duel
dueler
noun
or dueller
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
Jack Dunn, Variety, 10 May 2025
In each episode, the first challenger, selected at random, must choose one of his or her neighboring opponents to go head-to-head in an epic quiz duel in the opponent’s category.
—Peter White, Deadline, 10 May 2025
Carl Anka, New York Times, 16 May 2025
Universal’s Stardust Racers is the frontrunner for best new coaster of 2025
The Stardust Racers dueling coaster puts riders aboard a comet and sends them rocketing through the stars on twin tracks named Photon and Pulsar.
—Brady MacDonald, Oc Register, 13 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for duel
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Noun
The first challenger, selected at random, must choose one of his or her neighboring opponents to go head-to-head in an epic quiz duel in the opponent’s category.
—Jack Dunn, Variety, 10 May 2025
In each episode, the first challenger, selected at random, must choose one of his or her neighboring opponents to go head-to-head in an epic quiz duel in the opponent’s category.
—Peter White, Deadline, 10 May 2025
Verb
Picked up initially as Van der Sar’s understudy in 2010, Anders Lindegaard briefly duelled with David de Gea for the No 1 position, before moving to the bench.
—Carl Anka, New York Times, 16 May 2025
Universal’s Stardust Racers is the frontrunner for best new coaster of 2025
The Stardust Racers dueling coaster puts riders aboard a comet and sends them rocketing through the stars on twin tracks named Photon and Pulsar.
—Brady MacDonald, Oc Register, 13 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for duel
Cite this Entry
“Duel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/duel. Accessed 21 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids 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
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"
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