attack dog
noun
1
: a dog trained to attack on command or on sight
2
: a person noted for harsh, personal, and usually public verbal attacks against others
a political attack dog
—usually hyphenated when used before another nounattack-dog tactics
Examples of attack dog in a Sentence
The charges against the candidate were made by one of the governor's attack dogs.
his reputation as a political attack dog earned him the vice presidential spot on the ticket
Recent Examples on the Web
Its flights of fancy jut against harsh intrusions of real-world absurdism, where human lives are coldly compressed through the intricacies of E.U. asylum law, while refugee smugglers charge their victims 20 euros extra for a sprinkling of pepper to ward off attack dogs.
—
Guy Lodge, Variety, 3 July 2024
Mao was impressed by the toughness his protégé Deng Xiaoping displayed during interminable debates over ideology in Moscow in the 1960s, when Deng was Beijing’s most prominent attack dog on the world stage.
—Joseph Torigian, Foreign Affairs, 24 June 2024
In 2016, the Standing Rock Sioux (Dakota and Lakota) and thousands of land and water protectors withstood attack dogs and water cannons in a fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline expansion, which threatened water, burial grounds, and sacred sites on their land.
—Hazlitt, 19 June 2024
The case is hardly the only legal difficulty for Giuliani, the Republican former federal prosecutor who led New York City for two law-and-order focused terms at City Hall before becoming Trump’s legal attack dog.
—Tim Balk, New York Daily News, 21 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for attack dog 
Guy Lodge, Variety, 3 July 2024
Mao was impressed by the toughness his protégé Deng Xiaoping displayed during interminable debates over ideology in Moscow in the 1960s, when Deng was Beijing’s most prominent attack dog on the world stage.
—Joseph Torigian, Foreign Affairs, 24 June 2024
In 2016, the Standing Rock Sioux (Dakota and Lakota) and thousands of land and water protectors withstood attack dogs and water cannons in a fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline expansion, which threatened water, burial grounds, and sacred sites on their land.
—Hazlitt, 19 June 2024
The case is hardly the only legal difficulty for Giuliani, the Republican former federal prosecutor who led New York City for two law-and-order focused terms at City Hall before becoming Trump’s legal attack dog.
—Tim Balk, New York Daily News, 21 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for attack dog
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'attack dog.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Attack dog.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/attack%20dog. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
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