| Idiom | Dog-Eat-Dog World |
|---|---|
| Example | When Anna got her first job, she realized what a dog-eat-dog world it was. |
| Meaning | a way of life marked by fierce competition in which people compete ruthlessly for survival or success |
| Origin | This saying might go back as far as the 1500s. Sometimes savage dogs who were desperately hungry would fight bitterly for the same piece of food. A writer who observed this created the expression "dog-eat-dog world" to describe the willingness of some people to fight and hurt others in a merciless competition to get what they wanted. Today this phrase is usually used to describe the worlds of business and politics. |
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