tug-of-war
Tug-of-war is a game or contest in which two teams pull hard on the opposite ends of a long rope. Any struggle that feels like this can also be called a tug-of-war.
A figurative tug-of-war can be any situation with two well-matched opponents, like a tug-of-war between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress or a tug-of-war between environmentalists and supporters of the oil industry. This meaning of "a struggle between two equally matched groups" arose in the 17th century, long before the actual athletic competition, which dates from around 1875.
Definitions of tug-of-war
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any hard struggle between equally matched groups
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a contest in which teams pull of opposite ends of a rope; the team dragged across a central line loses
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type of:
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athletic competition, athletic contest, athletics
a contest between athletes
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athletic competition, athletic contest, athletics
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘tug-of-war'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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