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
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
Chris Biderman, Sacbee.com, 24 May 2025
May departed with the Dodgers trailing 1-0 and was initially in line to be the hard-luck loser of a pitchers’ duel with Burnes, but Hernandez changed that with one swing.
—Kyle Glaser, Oc Register, 22 May 2025
Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 27 May 2025
These aren’t references for the sake of reference, but rather, a seeming attempt to reckon with the dueling influence of American culture and American politics, with the former helping Gaza’s filmmakers to build their images and identities, and the latter funding weaponry used to destroy them.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 24 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for duel
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Noun
The game had the look of a pitchers’ duel going into the ninth inning with first-place Philadelphia leading 1-0 thanks to a home run from Trea Turner leading off the game.
—Chris Biderman, Sacbee.com, 24 May 2025
May departed with the Dodgers trailing 1-0 and was initially in line to be the hard-luck loser of a pitchers’ duel with Burnes, but Hernandez changed that with one swing.
—Kyle Glaser, Oc Register, 22 May 2025
Verb
In her dueling opening, Combs’ defense lawyer Teny Geragos described Clark as a long-term employee who continued to work for Combs after the alleged incident.
—Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 27 May 2025
These aren’t references for the sake of reference, but rather, a seeming attempt to reckon with the dueling influence of American culture and American politics, with the former helping Gaza’s filmmakers to build their images and identities, and the latter funding weaponry used to destroy them.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 24 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for duel
Cite this Entry
“Duel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/duel. Accessed 2 Jun. 2025.
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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