as in one-on-one
in direct confrontation or competition
that inexperienced, upstart candidate will be going eyeball-to-eyeball with a senator who's a skilled debater
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for eyeball-to-eyeball
Adverb
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Visitors can watch humpback whales surface offshore, ride a tram above downtown, stand face-to-face with or even on Mendenhall Glacier, a river of ice flowing from the vast Juneau Icefield.—
Josh Rivera,
USA Today,
14 May 2026 -
People are also interacting less face-to-face amid a rise in social media, which has made dating harder, some say.—
Janis Mackey Frayer,
NBC news,
14 May 2026
Adverb
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City have never drawn against Bournemouth in the Premier League, which makes that stubborn streak an unusual wrinkle in this head-to-head.—
Sukhman Singh,
New York Times,
16 May 2026
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But this is a very serious feature upgrade for the new Android phones, and even more so for the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which will go head-to-head with Apple’s iPhone Fold this year.—
Janhoi McGregor,
Forbes.com,
16 May 2026
Adverb
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Perkins, who is CEO of Canva, addressed head-on the concerns among many who work in creative industries about the potential for AI to supplant human labor.—
Cynthia Littleton,
Variety,
16 Apr. 2026
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Figures of Crisis makes productive use of this commonplace idea by tackling it head-on and turning it inside out.—
Ara H. Merjian,
ARTnews.com,
16 Apr. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Eyeball-to-eyeball.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/eyeball-to-eyeball. Accessed 20 May. 2026.
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