also-ran

[ awl-soh-ran ]

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

noun

1. a contestant, horse, etc, failing to finish among the first three in a race
2. an unsuccessful person; loser or nonentity

Word History and Origins

Origin of also-ran¹

First recorded in 1895–1900

Idioms and Phrases

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.

Example Sentences

Rand Paul had the benefit of observing both what made his father likable and popular, and what made him an also-ran.

From The Daily Beast

Ten years ago, Apple began its transformation from an also-ran PC maker to a world-beating tech titan.

From The Daily Beast

For a time he wrote criticism for Mawaqif, a publication founded by the Syrian poet (and perennial Nobel also-ran) Adonis.

From The Daily Beast

The FTC has subpoenaed Google in an antitrust case—the kind of probe that turned Microsoft from king of tech to an also-ran.

From The Daily Beast

He had made a joke about his movie's status as also-ran to The Hurt Locker.

From The Daily Beast

Related Words

• loser