underdog means A competitor thought unlikely to win. It carries an Arena rating of 1675, earned across 19 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, underdog ranks #27 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #966 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #4,149 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #4,728 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
underdog is pronounced /ˈʌndəˌdɒɡ/.
Why “underdog” is a great word
The competitor or participant in a struggle or contest who is expected to lose. From under + dog, originally referring to the losing or beaten dog in a 19th-century dogfight (first attested 1887). Unlike the 'favourite,' who carries the weight of expectation, or the 'top dog,' who has already secured its perch, the underdog bears the lighter, more treacherous burden of hope. It is the scrawny mutt with the torn ear, still circling; the last-minute shot at the buzzer from half-court; the quiet scholar facing a tribunal of scoffing experts—the essential, fragile possibility that the story we all know is wrong.
Etymology
From under- + dog.
noun
- A competitor thought unlikely to win.e.g.“They were the underdogs in the basketball competition.”
- Somebody at a disadvantage.e.g.“Laszlo: Isn't it strange that you always happened to be fighting on the side of the underdog?
Rick: Yes. I found that a very expensive hobby, too. But then I never was much of a businessman.” — 1942, Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch, Casablanca:
- A high swing wherein the person pushing the swing runs beneath the swing while the person being pushed is at the forward limit of the arc.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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