knock-down, drag-out

adjective

ˈnäk-ˌdauṅ-ˈdrag-ˌau̇t 

variants or knock-down-and-drag-out

: marked by extreme violence or bitterness and by the showing of no mercy

knock-down, drag-out political debates

knock-down-drag-out noun

Synonyms of knock-down, drag-out

• violent
• fierce
• ferocious
• furious
• turbulent
• rough
• volcanic
• rabid

Examples of knock-down, drag-out in a Sentence

the football game was a knock-down, drag-out battle between bitter rivals

Recent Examples on the Web

Some puzzlers describe solving the crossword as a workout; for me, today’s was a knock-down, drag-out fistfight. — Sean McGowan, New York Times, 22 Oct. 2026

The game, whose knock-down, drag-out gunfights recall another first-person RPG, Call of Duty, drew a lot of initial buzz over the character Johnny Silverhand played by Reeves. — Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 8 Oct. 2026

But its industry titans are also locked in a knock-down, drag-out fight for market share, with brutal price wars and competition in a crowded home market deflating profits and stymieing growth. — Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 2 May 2026

That means the knock-down, drag-out government shutdown battles that have become a Washington ritual are, in effect, a fight over a little more than a quarter of the federal ledger. — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 28 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1834, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for knock-down, drag-out

• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout