dark horse

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I do actually think England are dark horses to win the tournament given how well they played in Sri Lanka and the options they have.

From BBC

With arguably the strongest and deepest squad they have ever assembled in the professional era, the Scots have been many people's dark horses in recent years, but not this time.

From BBC

Surprisingly, none of the three claimed Austen’s best-known novel, “Pride and Prejudice,” while dark horse candidate “Mansfield Park” — Austen’s far less sparkly, even somber third novel — appeared to win the day.

From Los Angeles Times

Even though the Dodgers initially had doubts about their chances of landing Edwin Díaz, circumstances changed, the reliever’s market evolved, and they went from dark horse to front-runner.

From Los Angeles Times

Xiaomi in particular was a "dark horse", she said, its debut AI glasses the third best-selling of their kind for the first half of 2025 despite only being on sale for about a week.

From Barron's