law of the jungle


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law of the jungle

The idea that the strongest or most merciless in a society or group will survive. The phrase comes from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. I refuse to serve as mayor without compassion, so this city will not operate according to the law of the jungle.
See also: jungle, law, of
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

law of the jungle

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).
See also: jungle, law, of
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

the law of the jungle

You use the law of the jungle to describe a situation where people who are strong and do not care about harming others are most successful. The streets are subject to the law of the jungle and policing has been entrusted to private law enforcement agencies. She strongly criticized the president for what she described as his attempt to rule by the law of the jungle. Note: This phrase became popular from `The Jungle Book' by Rudyard Kipling (1894). `The law of the Jungle, which never orders anything without a reason, forbids every beast to eat Man, except when he is killing to show his children how to...'. Instead of encouraging aggression, this law actually places limits on the use of violence in the animal kingdom.
See also: jungle, law, of
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

the law of the jungle

the principle that those who are strong and apply ruthless self-interest will be most successful.
1989 Bessie Head Tales of Tenderness & Power And at the beer tank the law of the jungle prevailed, the stronger shoving the weaker.
See also: jungle, law, of
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

the ˌlaw of the ˈjungle

a situation in which people are prepared to harm other people in order to succeed: The police daren’t go into certain parts of the city. It’s the law of the jungle in there. ♢ In this business it’s the law of the jungle.
See also: jungle, law, of
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
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At the waterhole, the wolves and the other animals come together under the law of the jungle. This law is sacrosanct--it informs the way that the animals live and interact with one another.
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The didactic guidance comes from his friends in the jungle and his adapted parents in the village, while the life-threatening lessons come form his enemy Shere Khan, a tiger in the jungle who usually breaks The Law of the Jungle and is finally killed by Mowgli.
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"In fact what they are doing is stripping the principle of sovereign immunities which would turn the world for international law into the law of the jungle", Jubeir said.
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Even if officials and politicians label crimes as "individual" incidents that don't signal a worrying phenomenon, fewer and fewer people want to take their chances in a place where they see the law of the jungle on the rise.
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OTHER THEATRE
The House of Representatives issued a statement in which it said that the brutal acts of racist genocide and gory terrorism committed against Muslims are tantamount to the law of the jungle and constitute a flagrant provocation against one billion Muslims all over the world.
Parliament condemns genocide in CAR
Karbouli warned Prime Minister of " the harm consequences of militias' criminal practices which are perpetrated without punishments according to the law ," noting that everyone will be forced to defend himself , then will be disarray and the law lack of control , so will replaced by the law of the jungle " .
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The law of the jungle in Yemenrun by the law of the jungle, survi
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