duel
/ˈdul/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.65 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Historically, the wager of battle (judicial combat).
Example Sentences
- "I have often thought since, how different my fate might have been, had I not fallen in love with Nora at that early age; and had I not flung the wine in Quin’s face, and so brought on the duel."
- "Of course, not all the Railway Members were men of such talent. One member was "chiefly eminent as a whist player," and another was known for his duel with a fellow M.P. fought at Wormwood Scrubs in 1840."
- "It has been 200 years, minus a few days, since Vice President Aaron Burr fatally shot Alexander Hamilton in a duel here. Weehawken and the duel have been tied together in an often-uncomfortable knot ever since."
- "After Rep. William Graves of Kentucky killed Rep. John Cilley of Maine in a duel in 1838, Congress imposed a prohibition on pistol duels in the District of Columbia."
- "a sniper duel"
- "But it leaves them with a few destroyers, the American destroyer force is falling back, and then you have the two cruiser lines with their respective battleships coming in for the big duel."
Etymology
From Medieval Latin duellum (“fight between two men, duel”), itself from Old Latin duellum (“war, fight”), which survived in Classical Latin as a rare byform of bellum and was later reinterpreted as “duel” by unetymological association with duo (“two”). May have entered English through Middle French duel.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: duellum, duel
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈdul/