How to Use underdog in a Sentence

underdog

noun
  • I always root for the underdog instead of the favorite.
  • As a lawyer, she consistently represented the underdog.
  • In a two-way race, the math just doesn’t work for the underdogs.
    TIME, 16 Jan. 2024
  • That’s time to put in trick plays, get healthy and play the underdog card.
    Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 3 Dec. 2023
  • This underdog story takes a dark turn and the pals turn foes.
    Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 3 Mar. 2023
  • But one thing is certain: the underdogs will be a tough out.
    Christopher Kuhagen, Journal Sentinel, 3 Apr. 2024
  • As the pressure piled up, so did the dot balls and suddenly the underdogs were well in the game.
    Thomas Schlachter, CNN, 12 June 2024
  • This is the level up, from being an underdog to the big dog.
    Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 1 Feb. 2024
  • Yes, underdogs can win this game because there’s so much emotion on the field and in the stands.
    Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 2023
  • The following three games, on the other hand, could see the Knicks as underdogs on the road.
    Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 14 June 2024
  • State of play: Detroit (86-76) will once again be the underdog.
    Joe Guillen, Axios, 4 Oct. 2024
  • Few things give an underdog the spark that turnovers do.
    Corey Smith, Dallas News, 30 Aug. 2023
  • Utah is to be an underdog (-130) to keep their All-Star center.
    cleveland, 16 June 2022
  • That rematch is one of the marquee races of the year, though Ms. Abrams is going into the fall as the underdog.
    Miguel Gonzalez, WSJ, 6 Nov. 2022
  • But 15 years ago, Marvel was an underdog with a lot to prove.
    Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 July 2022
  • New Zealand has one match left in group play, and will be an underdog vs. France.
    NBC News, 28 July 2024
  • The Celtics, who’ll enter tonight’s game as 1-point underdogs, haven’t lost a game on the road since the playoffs began.
    Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 14 June 2024
  • This is the second time this season for the Horned Frogs to be rated as an underdog.
    Joseph Goodman | Jgoodman@al.com, al, 10 Nov. 2022
  • The spread settled with SMU being a 15.5-point underdog by the time tipoff happened.
    Joseph Hoyt, Dallas News, 16 Feb. 2023
  • The Bengals seem to enter every matchup against the Chiefs and Bills as an underdog.
    Kelsey Conway, The Enquirer, 30 Dec. 2022
  • The Bears have won two of their last three games while emerging as an underdog story.
    Jeff Miller, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2023
  • The Rebels, of course, are huge underdogs against Michigan, who are opening the 2023 season with four home games.
    Kevin Skiver, Detroit Free Press, 9 Sep. 2023
  • But in each scenario, the underdog still has a respectable chance — at least 1-in-5 — of winning.
    G. Elliott Morris, ABC News, 6 Nov. 2023
  • Does that make the underdog more dangerous, or put the favorite at ease?
    Chris Bumbaca, USA TODAY, 21 Jan. 2023
  • Just like in the past two years, Utah will be an underdog, but still have a significant chance at the top spot.
    Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 25 July 2023
  • By the end of this year’s run, most of the country was rooting for them—as underdogs among underdogs.
    Nr Editors, National Review, 2 Feb. 2024
  • While indeed not the fattest bear, 901 is an underdog of sorts.
    Morgan Krakow, Anchorage Daily News, 12 Oct. 2022
  • Biden’s self-mythology took shape around the figure of the underdog.
    Evan Osnos, The New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2024
  • Sarcasm is the best tool of the underdog to make critiques of society.
    Josh Chesler, SPIN, 28 July 2022
  • Her chart-topping 2022 album could have been the perennial underdog’s springboard out of pop’s middle class.
    Pitchfork, 1 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'underdog.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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