51Թ

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View synonyms for

law of the jungle

noun

  1. a system or mode of action in which the strongest survive, presumably as animals in nature or as human beings whose activity is not regulated by the laws or ethics of civilization.


law of the jungle

noun

  1. a state of ruthless competition or self-interest
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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51Թ History and Origins

Origin of law of the jungle1

First recorded in 1890–95
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Idioms and Phrases

Survival of the strongest, as in The recent price war among airlines was governed by the law of the jungle . This term, alluding to the jungle as a place devoid of ethics where brutality and self-interest reign, was first used by Rudyard Kipling in The Jungle Book (1894).
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

At a recent event to mark the opening of 218 low-rent flats in the southern city of Seville, he declared that Spaniards "want us to act, they want the housing market to operate according to the law of reason, of social justice, not the law of the jungle; they want to ensure that vulture funds and speculators are not doing whatever they like".

From

"There is no place for this type of conduct, retribution or the law of the jungle."

From

“We're animals just like everything else on this planet, except we've forgotten the law of the jungle and bend over for our overlords when any other animal would recognize the threat and fight to the death for their survival. 'Violence never solved anything' is a statement uttered by cowards and predators,” the quoted excerpt in the review reads.

From

“We now live in the Gaza Strip and are governed by the American law of the jungle. America has killed human rights,” said Rafah resident Abu Yasser al-Khatib.

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“Putin is dragging us back to the law of the jungle. He has to be defeated.”

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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