also-ran
[awl-soh-ran]
noun
Sports.
- (in a race) a contestant who fails to win or to place among the first three finishers.
- an athlete or team whose performance in competition is rarely, if ever, a winning or near-winning one.
Informal. a person who loses a contest, election, or other competition.
Informal. a person who attains little or no success: For every great artist there are a thousand also-rans.
Origin of also-ran
First recorded in 1895–1900
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for also-ran
Contemporary Examples of also-ran
Rand Paul had the benefit of observing both what made his father likable and popular, and what made him an also-ran.
Ten years ago, Apple began its transformation from an also-ran PC maker to a world-beating tech titan.
For a time he wrote criticism for Mawaqif, a publication founded by the Syrian poet (and perennial Nobel also-ran) Adonis.
The FTC has subpoenaed Google in an antitrust case—the kind of probe that turned Microsoft from king of tech to an also-ran.
He had made a joke about his movie's status as also-ran to The Hurt Locker.
also-ran
noun
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
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
also-ran
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.