finalist

[ fahyn-l-ist ]

noun

1. a person entitled to participate in the final or decisive contest in a series, as in musical or athletic competition.

finalist

/ ˈfaɪnəlɪst /

noun

1. a contestant who has reached the last and decisive stage of a sports or other competition

Word History and Origins

Origin of finalist¹

First recorded in 1895–1900; final + -ist

Example Sentences

In 2002, 16th seed Thomas Johansson of Sweden won his lone Grand Slam title in Melbourne, and unseeded finalists Marcos Baghdatis and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga advanced to the final in 2006 and 2008, respectively.

From FiveThirtyEight

In a year like no other, the finalists for the Digiday Video and TV Awards broke new ground.

From Digiday

A two-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb Award, Deam was part of the team that became a finalist for Pulitzer Prize for breaking news in 2018 for coverage of Hurricane Harvey.

From ProPublica

Carroll has won dozens of journalism awards, including being part of a team at the Chronicle named as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize.

From ProPublica

His other finalists were Minnesota, Iowa State, Florida and Florida State.

From Washington Post

For months, I struggled with the decision and after being rejected as a finalist from a fellowship I found myself at a crossroads.

From The Daily Beast

The duo also thanked mentor—and former CVFF finalist—Prabal Gurung for his assistance and support.

From The Daily Beast

We learn that Rachel is a finalist for the part of Fanny Brice in the revival of Funny Girl.

From The Daily Beast

The 2013 fiction judges:  Charles Baxter was a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction in 2000 for The Feast of Love.

From The Daily Beast

René Steinke was a 2005 National Book Award finalist in fiction for her novel Holy Skirts.

From The Daily Beast

The effect of that was that Alan Macfie, the other semi-finalist, had a bye in the morning.

From Project Gutenberg

This reason is a logical necessity, but the logical necessity does not prove the teleological or finalist necessity.

From Project Gutenberg

Already the finalist theory of life eludes all precise verification.

From Project Gutenberg

What more could the most confirmed finalist say, in order to mark out so exceptional a physico-chemistry?

From Project Gutenberg

The finalist or teleological conception is not any more tenable, for Evolution is not simply the realization of a plan.

From Project Gutenberg