tooth and nail
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.84 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adv
Viciously; with all one's strength or power; without holding back.
Example Sentences
- "For a century, the two families fought tooth and nail over control of the land."
- "I shall fight tooth and nail for international copyright and stage-right, […] ."
- "At that time, I was young in the Lord, stood firm on what I believed, and I fought tooth and nail for what I thought was right in my mind and with God."
- "The women struggle tooth and nail to gain office skills so they don't have to make Jell—O or pencils forever."
- "Jeremy DeLongpre: Yeah, about that Tony nomination. Richard DeLongpre: Yeah, apparently they don't nominate plays that are staged in our living room. Not over, fighting 'em tooth and nail on it."
- "In a second term Mr Obama’s administration is likely to press ahead with its struggle to hold for-profit colleges more accountable for their results: something the industry is fighting tooth and claw."
Etymology
From the Middle English phrase (with) nayles and teþ (“viciously, ferociously”, literally “(with) nails and teeth”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: -
Inflected Forms
with tooth and nail (alternative)