dog eat dog
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
A situation where people are willing to harm each other in order to succeed.
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Tình huống mà mọi người sẵn sàng gây hại cho nhau để thành công
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Local authorities should not indulge in a dog - eat - dog attitude.
Unfettered competition of dog eat dog policies must surely give way to positive employment policies and achieve what desired, a society set free from idleness.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “dog eat dog” mean?
A situation where people are willing to harm each other in order to succeed.
Is “dog eat dog” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.