Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

also-ran

American  
[awl-soh-ran] / ˈɔl soʊˌræn /

noun

  1. Sports.

    1. (in a race) a contestant who fails to win or to place among the first three finishers.

    2. an athlete or team whose performance in competition is rarely, if ever, a winning or near-winning one.

  2. Informal. a person who loses a contest, election, or other competition.

  3. Informal. a person who attains little or no success.

    For every great artist there are a thousand also-rans.
also-ran British  

noun

  1. a contestant, horse, etc, failing to finish among the first three in a race

  2. an unsuccessful person; loser or nonentity

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
also-ran Idioms  

  1. Loser, failure, unsuccessful individual, as in Jane feared that her candidate, a terrible speaker, would end up as an also-ran, or As for getting promotions, Mark counted himself among the also-rans. This term comes from racing, where it describes a horse that finishes in fourth place or lower or does not finish a race at all. It first appeared in the 1890s in published racing results, and has since been transferred to losers in any kind of competition, and also more broadly to persons who simply don't do well.

Etymology

Origin of also-ran

First recorded in 1895–1900

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.

It became an also-ran and there it remains until now.

From BBC • Jan. 31, 2026

Nevertheless, Gaines portrays the moment as when her “dreams” were “shattered,” but most people would hardly use such heavy language for the difference between tying for fifth place versus having that also-ran trophy by yourself.

From Salon • Oct. 27, 2025

TikTok said that Oracle would run its secure cloud in the U.S., a coup for Oracle’s then also-ran business.

From Barron's • Oct. 10, 2025

Those groups have already reshaped European soccer over the past two decades, helping push former also-ran clubs to unprecedented glory.

From The Wall Street Journal • Aug. 8, 2025

His musical efflorescence was tragically brief, but this is the man who turned the chord-strumming, jobbing electric guitar into a high-wire, virtuoso lead instrument, from also-ran to star turn.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

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.