as in face-to-face
in direct confrontation or competition
bragged that no one could go one-on-one with her in a game of darts and win
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for one-on-one
Adverb
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But with Niño based in Santa Monica and Timothy operating between Sierra Leone and London, face-to-face collaboration was never in the cards—that is, until one especially soggy London afternoon last November, when Niño took advantage of a day off tour and made his way to Timothy’s studio.—
Hattie Lindert,
Pitchfork,
22 May 2026 -
Rejections don’t exist in vacuums; the devastating, face-to-face playground rejection of a little Black child by a white child in 1961 New Orleans was taught by adults.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
21 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
“One-on-one.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/one-on-one. Accessed 24 May. 2026.
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