Definition of "duel" []

• A prearranged, formal combat between two persons, usually fought to settle a point of honor. (noun)
• A struggle for domination between two contending persons, groups, or ideas. (noun)
• To engage (another) in or as if in formal combat. (verb-transitive)
• To oppose actively and forcefully. (verb-transitive)
• To engage in or as if in formal combat. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The law says, the killing a man in a duel is murder, and I am bound to tell you it is murder; therefore, in the discharge of my duty, I tell you so; but I tell you at the same time, a _fairer duel_ than this I never heard of in the whole _coorse_ of my life. '"
• "Most observers feel that an Obama-McCain duel is not a very likely outcome of this election."
• "And then, in one moment, the title duel took a decisive swing - pushing absolutely flat-out,"