Underdog

noun

noun ·3 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A competitor thought unlikely to win.

    "They were the underdogs in the basketball competition."

  2. 2
    one at a disadvantage and expected to lose wordnet
  3. 3
    Somebody at a disadvantage.

    "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."

  4. 4
    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.

Synonyms

All synonyms
also ranalso-ranboobybottom dogcasualtydefeatee

Example

More examples

"Luciano, the underdog in the match, will be trying to make the champ eat humble pie."

Etymology

From under- + dog.

Related phrases

also randark horse

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.