runner-up
Americannoun
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the competitor, player, or team finishing in second place, as in a race, contest, or tournament.
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runners-up, the competitors who do not win a contest but who place ahead of the majority of the contestants and share in prizes or honors, as those who place second, third, and fourth, or in the top ten.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of runner-up
First recorded in 1835–45
Explanation
In a competition, the runner-up is usually the person who comes in second place. In the Olympics, an athlete who wins a silver medal can be called a runner-up. In beauty pageants, there are often first, second, and third-place winners, followed by a runner-up. At the state fair, if your pig gets a blue ribbon and your sister's gets a red one, it means your pig won, and your sister's pig was the runner-up. The earliest use of this word, in the 1840s, was in dog racing.
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.
See Examples For:
A win is worth £15,000 and a runner-up spot £10,000, so Littler has some work to do.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Iron Man Cal, like the runner-up trained by Phil D’Amato, was third, with The Goat fourth and pacesetting Mirahmadi fading to last.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
Perhaps reuniting with Umberto Rispoli, the jockey who was aboard Journalism for the last eight of his nine straight wins or runner-up finishes, will provide a boost.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
Following her departure from the Commons in 2010, Widdecombe appeared on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing that year, and was a runner-up on Celebrity Big Brother eight years later.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
I stick around long enough to hear that Millie—our little Millicent!—is second runner-up.
From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy
The pair were runners-up to winners Amaya Espinal and Bryan Arenales.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
But when they left New Jersey as runners-up, Fernandez and the rest of La Albiceleste still had at least one ally back home.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
It is a remarkable era for England's football teams, with the Lionesses winning back-to-back European Championship titles and being runners-up at the 2023 Women's World Cup.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
The midfielder recovered in time to win the World Cup with Spain in 2023 and was part of the squad that finished runners-up to England at Euro 2025.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
It was what separated the queens from the runners-up.
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
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.
