dog-eat-dog

dog eat dog

Characterized by ruthless behavior and competition, as of a society, situation, industry, etc. Hyphenated if used before a noun. It's dog eat dog right now at school because all the top students are competing to be valedictorian. Don't expect this kind of consideration in the real world—it's dog eat dog out there. Just be careful—it's a dog-eat-dog industry, so everyone will only be looking out for themselves.
See also: dog, eat
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

dog-eat-dog

A dog-eat-dog situation is one in which people are willing to harm each other or to use dishonest methods in order to achieve what they want. Office politics can be a dog-eat-dog world. The TV business today is a dog-eat-dog business.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

dog-eat-dog

mod. cruel; highly competitive. This is a dog-eat-dog world.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • dog eat dog
  • a dog-eat-dog world
  • dog around
  • play hide the hot dog
  • hunt
  • my dawg
  • my dog
  • my dogg
  • sick as a dog
  • (as) sick as a dog
References in periodicals archive
Wallace is a motivational book designed to help today's business owners succeed in this dog-eat-dog world of commercial exchange.
The power of your reputation equals profits can be a tangible business strategy
I am assured the course does not have a practical exam at the end - which is probably good news for the people of Wearside - but the 10-week course could still give me skills needed to get to the top in the dog-eat-dog world that is The Journal offices.
Ginger snaps
The research hints at a resolution to one of the most vexing problems in evolutionary biology: How can worker bees -- which are sterile females and thus have no means of directly passing their genetic makeup to offspring--survive, specialize and evolve in the dog-eat-dog world of natural selection?
Honeybee jobs: like father, like daughter
BY DARREN FULLERTON Newry C v Carrick Rgrs Promotion/Relegation play-off, first leg, KO 7.45pm CARRICK RANGERS boss David McAlinden is bracing himself for a dog-eat-dog scrap with Newry City in tonight's first leg of the promotion, relegation playoff at the Showgrounds (7.45pm).
McAlinden expecting a battle
He's been in the game long enough to know it's dog-eat-dog.
Tim knows the De Boer score
Also, it makes for decent, respectful people without the dog-eat-dog attitude we have today.
Learn from faith; emails&letters
It adds: "Forget Begbie in the film Train-spotting - Scotland is fast becoming the destination for visitors to the British Isles, winning out over dog-eat-dog London."
SCOTLAND'S SMILES BETTER, SAYS GUIDE
More than anything it portrays Hollywood as a very dog-eat-dog community where an individual has to toe the line or they find themselves out in the cold forever.
Letter: Your Say - Tinsel tragedy
THE dog-eat-dog world of business could be enhanced by the appearance of mutts in meetings, according to a senior research psychologist from Warwick University.
How to breed better business
It was no dog-eat-dog thing," says Brown, now 62 and the golf pro at Madden Golf Course in Dayton, Ohio.
Remembering the old UGA tour
Proof if proof were needed that the often cynical, dog-eat-dog world of golf does deliver good news stories every so often.
Matt finish was welcome
MacKenzie, who now meets Mark Selby in Shanghai, said: "It's dog-eat-dog here because it's so hard to qualify for events but I played great."
Chinese torture for McManus