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⚖️ A power struggle 🤼 A rope contest
tug-of-war

tug-of-war

3 3.0
A contest where two teams pull a rope to drag the other team across a line
  • noun
  • /ˈtʌɡ əv ˈwɔr/
translation icon : tira y afloja
  • In the annual fair, the highlight was always the tug-of-war between the local soccer teams.

Examples

  • The children had a fun tug-of-war competition during the school sports day.

  • During the picnic, we organized a tug-of-war between two teams to see who was stronger.

  • The animal gets the end of the branch and starts a tug-of-war with Grant.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The deciding event will be the tug-of-war.

    Vampire Assassin (2005)

  • Tug of war continued as an Olympic sport through the 1920 Games.

    Blog text (25)

  • Tug of war is also part of the World Games, an every-four-year competition for non-Olympic sports.

    Blog text (25)

  • Fred wins the tug-of-war.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The tug-of-war, for example, was featured in six Games—as many as baseball—from 1900 to 1920.

    Blog text (3)

Synonyms

tug of war
vstug-of-war
4 2.0

A game where two teams pull a rope to drag the other team across a line

is the same contest but written with a hyphen

Antonyms

peace
∞ 1.0

A calm, friendly relationship between people or groups without argument

cooperation
443 2.5

Working together with other people to reach a common goal

How Active

tug-of-war
3 3.0
chase
232 1.0
to pet
54 1.0

Surface Forms

tug-of-war singular
tug-of-wars plural

Morphology

tug-of-war = tug + war (transparent) = of + tug + war

The literal contest sense is directly described by the parts 'tug' and 'war' joined together with the linking 'of', so learners can readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Tug-of-war comes from the simple parts tug ('to pull') and war ('battle'), so it is literally a 'pulling battle'. That explains the game where two teams pull a rope to try to drag the other team across a line.