dog-eat-dog

adjective

Definition of dog-eat-dognext
as in opportunistic

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dog-eat-dog Rhyme schemes become secondary to dog-eat-dog dogma. — Pitchfork, 10 Dec. 2025 Stability and predictability would be the exception, not the norm, in a dog-eat-dog world. — Alexander Stubb, Foreign Affairs, 2 Dec. 2025 Joy radiates in the room, and a dog-eat-dog environment where people cut each other off is replaced by open collaboration. — Barry Levitt, Time, 19 Sep. 2025 Each episode is built around a tense, dog-eat-dog hunt, where each player becomes either a Predator or Prey. — Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 2 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for dog-eat-dog
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dog-eat-dog
  1. opportunistic
  2. corrupt
  3. depraved
  4. degenerate
  5. debased
  6. debauched
  7. profligate
  8. demoralized
Adjective
  • Broadly speaking, these kinds of stories — powered by a stop-them-before-they-kill-again clock, making their antagonists out to be finicky geniuses or horror movie monsters instead of opportunistic mediocrities — strike me as a low form of fiction.
    — Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 27 July 2026
  • Biometric authentication, such as Face ID or fingerprint recognition, generally offers stronger protection against opportunistic thieves because there’s no passcode for someone nearby to observe.
    — Stefanie Waldek, Travel + Leisure, 26 July 2026
Definition of opportunistic
Adjective
  • Some explicitly backed his Democratic opponent, the legendarily corrupt Edwin Edwards.
    — James Kirchick, The Atlantic, 21 July 2026
  • According to some research, Hungary has been the most corrupt country in the EU for years now.
    — Tax Notes Staff, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026
Definition of corrupt
Adjective
  • Jacobs collapses the distance between the nation’s lofty ideals and its depraved slave regime.
    — Brian DeLay, Mercury News, 4 July 2026
  • But that doesn’t mean that artificially sugared sodas, retail consumption, or social media are depraved, worthless activities akin to the cardinal sin of sloth or the tragic spiral of heroin addiction.
    — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 16 June 2026
Definition of depraved
Adjective
  • Or when some man behaving like a degenerate gambler plods into Chelsea Gray’s DMs with a disgusting slur.
    — Candace Buckner, New York Times, 27 July 2026
  • Populist theatrics, divorced from the prosaic work of consensus-building and problem-solving, degenerate into political escapism.
    — Will Marshall, Washington Post, 18 July 2026
Definition of degenerate
Adjective
  • That wasn’t its only subject; comedy and power and misogyny and creativity and intergenerational conflict and work ethic and, especially in its last few seasons, the debased state of the entertainment industry were all richly explored through lines.
    — Judy Berman, Time, 8 July 2026
  • And this has lent Margot a debased sort of celebrity.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 Apr. 2026
Definition of debased
Adjective
  • His dissolute, debauched lifestyle was due for a reckoning and could have sunk into tropes of the season’s theme.
    — Jennifer Maas, Variety, 10 June 2026
  • Firstman stars as Peter, a debauched millennial aging out of a New York scene that never cared about him as a person in the first place.
    — Joshua Rothkopf, Los Angeles Times, 22 May 2026
Definition of debauched
Adjective
  • Just as life in industrial urban centers in the nineteenth century caused hardship in rural villages, the profligate lifestyles enjoyed by those of us in the Global North are underwritten by the immiseration of those in the Global South.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 July 2026
  • Avoid the impulse to label someone as cheap or profligate after one or two dates, AARP advises.
    — Daniel de Visé, USA Today, 6 June 2026
Definition of profligate
Adjective
  • Despite being outnumbered and outmaneuvered, Washington maintained order among his demoralized troops.
    — Christopher Magra, The Conversation, 10 Feb. 2026
  • The Democratic Party has funneled all the fury of its demoralized and humiliated voter base into a focal point centered on immigration policy.
    — Torrey Snow, Baltimore Sun, 21 Jan. 2026
Definition of demoralized

Browse Nearby Words

dog-eared
dog-eat-dog
dogface
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Dog-eat-dog.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dog-eat-dog. Accessed 1 Aug. 2026.

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