attack dog

noun

1

: a dog trained to attack on command or on sight

2

: a person noted for harsh, personal, and usually public verbal attacks against others

a political attack dog

—usually hyphenated when used before another noun

attack-dog tactics

Synonyms

• mudslinger

Examples of attack dog in a Sentence

The charges against the candidate were made by one of the governor's attack dogs.

his reputation as a political attack dog earned him the vice presidential spot on the ticket

Recent Examples on the Web

In 2016, the Standing Rock Sioux (Dakota and Lakota) and thousands of land and water protectors withstood attack dogs and water cannons in a fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline expansion, which threatened water, burial grounds, and sacred sites on their land. —Hazlitt, 19 June 2024

The case is hardly the only legal difficulty for Giuliani, the Republican former federal prosecutor who led New York City for two law-and-order focused terms at City Hall before becoming Trump’s legal attack dog. —Tim Balk, New York Daily News, 21 May 2024

Coyotes have been known to attack dogs in Connecticut. —Ed Stannard, Hartford Courant, 14 Feb. 2024

Private security guards unleashed attack dogs on protesters, and the police blasted them with water cannons in freezing weather. —James K. Boyce, Scientific American, 1 Nov. 2018

Word History

First Known Use

1939, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

attack dog

noun

: a dog trained to attack upon receiving a command or upon seeing a certain object (as a person)