top dog
nounDefinition of top dog
: a person, group, or thing in a position of authority especially through victory in a hard-fought competition
Examples of top dog in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
However, AMD’s new flagship CPU is actually a pretty spectacular bargain compared to Intel’s top dog, the Core i-7980XE, which launched last year with 18 cores and a price of $2,000. — Gordon Mah Ung, PCWorld, "AMD's 32-core Threadripper dares Intel to match it on cores and price," 6 Aug. 2018 With its handsome budget, Sky can afford the best support riders around, none bigger than Thomas, who would be the top dog almost anywhere else. — Jason Gay, WSJ, "Who Will Win the Tour de France? On One Team, It’s Awkward," 23 July 2018 Former shuttle commander and current director of flight operations Mark Kelly is an executive, as is Alan Stern, former top science official at NASA and current top dog on the New Horizons mission to Pluto. — Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, "A Former Astronaut Will Be Flying Balloons to the Edge of Space," 23 Feb. 2016 As an actual racing game, which is what The Crew 2 is, after all, the controls are not as tight or complex as those seen in the genre's top dogs Forza and Gran Turismo. — Patrick Shanley, The Hollywood Reporter, "'The Crew 2': Game Review," 27 June 2018 In less than two years, the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach has made Manchester City one of European football's top dogs, but above all has turned even the Citizens' fringe players into the most versatile players around. — SI.com, "England Success in Russia Would Show Rising Influence of Pochettino and Guardiola in English Game," 21 June 2018 The seven members have come a long way in five years, trading their status as underdogs for top dogs. — Billboard Staff, Billboard, "BTS' 50 Best Songs: Critics' Picks," 12 June 2018 Scroll through the gallery below to see health issues that plague top dog breeds. — William Axford, Houston Chronicle, "A pit bull was euthanized in a Texas panhandle animal shelter after giving birth, causing outrage," 6 June 2018 Many old friends from his short-track days in California showed up to hang with NASCAR’s latest top dog. — Mike Hembree, USA TODAY, "Kevin Harvick returns home in support of short track racing," 16 Mar. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'top dog.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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From the Editors at Merriam-Webster
10 Nicknames for Important People
10 Nicknames for Important People
Big wigs, big enchiladas, and big shots
Dictionary Entries near top dog
Statistics for top dog
Last Updated
23 Nov 2018
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Time Traveler for top dog
The first known use of top dog was in 1900
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