1
: a combat between two persons
specifically
: a formal combat with weapons fought between two persons in the presence of witnesses
2
: a conflict between antagonistic persons, ideas, or forces
also
: a hard-fought contest between two opponents
dueled or duelled; dueling or duelling
: to fight a duel
: to encounter (an opponent) in a duel
dueler
noun
or dueller
Synonyms
Examples of duel in a Sentence
Noun
They engaged in a duel of wits.
a duel for the title of captain of the team
Verb
He accepted the challenge to duel.
Legislators dueled over the tax increases.
The two runners dueled for the lead.
Recent Examples on the Web
Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 5 Nov. 2024
The Dodgers won the first two in L.A., Game 2 featuring the duel between rookie Bob Welch and Reggie Jackson.
—Jim Alexander, Orange County Register, 27 Oct. 2024
Rafael Bernal, The Hill, 2 Nov. 2024
Both Trump and Harris are heading into the last weekend of the campaign by spending time in the crucial Midwest on Friday, both ending up in battleground Wisconsin with dueling rallies in Milwaukee.
—Alexandra Hutzler, ABC News, 1 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for duel 
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Noun
The Cowboys’ biggest deliveries were notched during their Week 3 duel with Baltimore, which averaged 27.29 million viewers on Fox, trailing only the previous week’s Bengals-Chiefs broadcast on CBS (27.87 million) for bragging rights as the season’s top linear-TV draw.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 5 Nov. 2024
The Dodgers won the first two in L.A., Game 2 featuring the duel between rookie Bob Welch and Reggie Jackson.
—Jim Alexander, Orange County Register, 27 Oct. 2024
Verb
Trump and Harris will hold dueling rallies in the Latino Corridor Monday afternoon: Harris will be in Allentown and Trump in Reading.
—Rafael Bernal, The Hill, 2 Nov. 2024
Both Trump and Harris are heading into the last weekend of the campaign by spending time in the crucial Midwest on Friday, both ending up in battleground Wisconsin with dueling rallies in Milwaukee.
—Alexandra Hutzler, ABC News, 1 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for duel
Dictionary Entries Near duel
Cite this Entry
“Duel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/duel. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
duel
1 of 2 noun
du·el
ˈd(y)ü-əl 
1
: a combat between two persons
especially
: one fought with weapons in the presence of witnesses
2
: a conflict between two opponents
duel
2 of 2 verb
dueled or duelled; dueling or duelling
: to fight in a duel
dueler
noun
or dueller
Etymology
Noun
from Latin duellum "duel," from an archaic form of earlier bellum "war"; revived in the Middle Ages to mean combat between two persons because the du- suggested Latin duo "two"
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