underdog

Language: en

🇺🇸 /ˈʌndɜrˌdɔg/

📖 Definitions

  1. noun
    A competitor, team, or person expected to lose in a contest or conflict; one at a disadvantage.; A person who is oppressed or persecuted by others; a victim of injustice.; In a dogfight, the dog that is defeated and lies beneath the winner.

🔗 Details

Word forms

countable Plural: underdogs

Collocations

root for the underdogunderdog storyunderdog statusplay the underdogthe underdog wins

Synonyms

dark horselong shotoutsiderchallengeralso-ran

Antonyms

favoritefront-runnertop dog

Commonly confused

dark horse
EN: 'Dark horse' refers to a little-known competitor who unexpectedly succeeds; 'underdog' refers to someone widely expected to lose.
long shot
EN: 'Long shot' emphasizes the low probability of success; 'underdog' emphasizes the disadvantaged competitive position.

Spelling tips

EN: Write as one word ('underdog'), not as two words ('under dog') or hyphenated ('under-dog').

💬 Examples

  1. The underdog team shocked everyone by winning the championship.

  2. The film tells the story of an underdog fighting against a corrupt system.

  3. The term 'underdog' originally referred to the losing dog in a fight.