How to Use dibs in a Sentence

dibs

plural noun
  • I get dibs on the front seat!
  • The teams with the worst record on waiver claims will have first dibs.
    — Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY, 29 Aug. 2023
  • More than a hundred dibs complaints were lodged with 311 from the weekend.
    — Sara MacHi, CBS News, 1 Dec. 2025
  • Westbrook already called dibs on those shots during a recent film session.
    — Mark Medina, USA TODAY, 28 Oct. 2019
  • Many fans subscribed to last season in order to get first dibs on subscribing to this season.
    — Jeffrey Lee Puckett, The Courier-Journal, 28 Feb. 2018
  • Chefs at the top have first dibs at the cornucopia of ingredients, while those in the basement are left with the scraps.
    — Sam Burros, Peoplemag, 16 Mar. 2023
  • Chefs at the top have first dibs at the cornucopia of ingredients, while those in the basement are left with the scraps.
    — Sabrina Weiss, Peoplemag, 15 May 2023
  • That’s the home of the infamous leather couch, where Sheldon routinely called dibs at the one end.
    — Lynette Rice, EW.com, 11 June 2019
  • But in the meantime, investors have what amounts to second-dibs on the ships, and the vessels aren’t pledged to any other piece of debt.
    — Paula Seligson, Bloomberg.com, 18 May 2020
  • One result of that is that the well-connected often get first dibs, Noam Levey wrote.
    — Los Angeles Times, 3 Apr. 2020
  • Unger will direct this bilingual non-subscription show; subscribers will get first dibs on buying tickets.
    — Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11 Feb. 2020
  • Boarding planes early has several perks, including first dibs at overhead bin space and dodging long lines at the gate.
    — Geoff Whitmore, Forbes, 22 Nov. 2024
  • But if the couple decide to auction it off or something, ABC gets first dibs on buying it back.
    — Lindsay Denninger, refinery29.com, 10 Mar. 2020
  • The best response is to remind voters that big business enjoys the cushiest of safety nets and first dibs at the government trough.
    — David Von Drehle, The Denver Post, 23 June 2019
  • Home sweet home Wagner wanted Kristaps Porzingis' locker and booted a teammate who was about to take dibs on it.
    — Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press, 2 Mar. 2018
  • People who pay taxes that contribute directly to the quality of the parks should be able to get first dibs in vacationing to those parks.
    — Arpan Lobo, Detroit Free Press, 22 Mar. 2024
  • Holders of premium cards, American Express isn’t shy about saying, get first dibs.
    — Chris Dong, Travel + Leisure, 31 Mar. 2023
  • City Council still has to approve it, but the preliminary list of candidates for first dibs includes 60 sites.
    — Aubrey Nagle, Philly.com, 2 Nov. 2017
  • When a person dies and donates a liver, potential recipients in the region are prioritized and the sickest gets first dibs.
    — Ted Alcorn, New York Times, 22 Dec. 2017
  • But the unwritten rules governing dibs in Chicago are the most sophisticated.
    — The Economist, 22 Feb. 2018
  • About this time of year, when the winter weary dream of torching all the dibs on the streets in a massive spring bonfire of rebirth, a little vision of sunshine and seawater sounds pretty good.
    — Mike Sula, Chicago Reader, 28 Feb. 2018
  • Senator Jack Reed was the do-no-wrong oldest son who got first dibs at everything from the top bunk to the appropriations committee.
    — Globe Columnist, BostonGlobe.com, 28 Feb. 2023
  • The PlayStation Direct website will get first dibs, followed by other retailers a couple of weeks later.
    — Eric Ravenscraft, WIRED, 26 Sep. 2024
  • Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez’s respective daughters have already begun calling dibs on some of the pop star’s most iconic looks.
    — Matt McNulty, PEOPLE.com, 4 June 2019
  • In good old-fashioned Chicago tradition, the unofficial dibs system is back, with chairs and cones spotted by those who spent time shoveling their parking spots to save them.
    — Sara MacHi, CBS News, 1 Dec. 2025
  • When somebody calls the Alameda association’s free hotline, for example, an email blast is sent out to all members, sparking a clamoring for dibs.
    — John Metcalfe, The Mercury News, 14 May 2024
  • The lawmakers had proposed cutting the visa lottery program in half and giving first dibs to countries already in the system, a White House official told the news outlet.
    — Monique O. Madan, miamiherald, 11 Jan. 2018
  • The phrase sounds like Marvel’s attempt at pandering to the Tinder generation (dibs on that screenplay, actually).
    — Allison P. Davis, The Cut, 6 Oct. 2017
  • Icons get first dibs at Nordstrom Anniversary sale picks from now until August 7, when shopping opens to Ambassador-level members.
    — Tiffany Dodson, SELF, 5 Aug. 2020
  • In the house’s eaves, where Sheraton and her husband kept cozy twin offices, the books awaited Slotnick, who specializes in out-of-print and antiquarian titles, and who’d been given first dibs.
    — Hannah Goldfield, The New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dibs.' 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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