as in opportunistic
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
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
Ditch the dog-eat-dog mentality and figure out how to combine their apocalyptic gifts against a common enemy.
—Natalie Zutter
june 30, Literary Hub, 30 June 2025
The antics that ensue are amusing, but there isn’t much incisiveness in the increasingly farcical dog-eat-dog dénouement.
—Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 4 June 2025
With or without his unusual backstory, Greenhalgh quickly realised that elite professional football is a dog-eat-dog world, especially for those who are still trying to prove themselves.
—Stuart James, New York Times, 31 May 2025
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
Ditch the dog-eat-dog mentality and figure out how to combine their apocalyptic gifts against a common enemy.
—Natalie Zutter
june 30, Literary Hub, 30 June 2025
The antics that ensue are amusing, but there isn’t much incisiveness in the increasingly farcical dog-eat-dog dénouement.
—Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 4 June 2025
With or without his unusual backstory, Greenhalgh quickly realised that elite professional football is a dog-eat-dog world, especially for those who are still trying to prove themselves.
—Stuart James, New York Times, 31 May 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dog-eat-dog
Adjective
-
Pruning cuts heal slowly during dormancy and invite opportunistic disease and pests.—
Barbara Gillette,
The Spruce,
31 Jan. 2026
-
The evidence of this rally seems to consist of a combination of opportunistic institutional buying and retail investors chasing headlines, although the prevailing institutional sentiment remains cautious.—
Trefis Team,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
In its sophomore season, Cross is in pursuit of a ruthless vigilante who is hunting down corrupt billionaire magnates.—
Jessica Radloff,
Glamour,
1 Feb. 2026
-
That eye-popping price looked less like an investment and more like a hefty tribute offered up to a corrupt strongman.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
31 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
In recent weeks, Trump has again revealed himself to be a stain on basic decency and humanity, demonstrating a depraved indifference to suffering and a laser-like focus on gold and glory.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
22 Jan. 2026
-
Decked out in a purple velour tracksuit, layered necklaces, a tattered blonde wig, and a tiara, Jimmy is the cult leader to a small, depraved group of satanists who claim to be the son of the Devil himself.—
Nick Romano,
Entertainment Weekly,
14 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
For reasons still not wholly understood, these ultradense objects—each about the mass of our star squeezed into a bizarre, city-sized ball of degenerate quantum matter—undergo starquakes in which the material on the surface shifts a bit like in an earthly tremor.—
Phil Plait,
Scientific American,
22 Jan. 2026
-
The conceit is probably most similar to Mark Monroe’s Charlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose, a four-part HBO film that the baseball career hits leader and reluctantly admitted degenerate gambler hoped would reopen establishment doors and set him up for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
18 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Only the first is still fashionable, and the last has been so debased, misused, and weaponized over the centuries as to be almost unspeakable in polite company.—
Zadie Smith,
New Yorker,
22 Sep. 2025
-
But in recent years, acts of brazen violence have been the grim drumbeat of a debased national politics.—
Eric Cortellessa,
Time,
11 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
There were months of speculation that Sam Levinson’s debauched series—about teenagers getting up to stuff no parent ever wants to know about—wouldn’t be able to get off the ground for a third run thanks to the new star power and busy schedules of its cast (Zendaya!—
Lucy Ford,
Time,
27 Dec. 2025
-
The film follows a wealthy socialite and a struggling writer who are thrown together at a debauched party.—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
7 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
This season on the road, Newcastle have been particularly profligate in possession.—
Chris Waugh,
New York Times,
5 Jan. 2026
-
The profligate spending of the Biden administration and the monetary mismanagement of the Federal Reserve caused both home prices and interest rates to skyrocket, a deadly one-two punch that knocked out the housing market.—
E.J. Antoni,
Mercury News,
28 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
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
-
Iraqi units were so demoralized and disorganized that, in one now-famous incident, a group of soldiers surrendered to an unmanned Pioneer drone.—
David A. Deptula,
Forbes.com,
16 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Dog-eat-dog.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dog-eat-dog. Accessed 5 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
