finalist
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of finalist
Explanation
A finalist is a competitor who reaches the final game, match, or tournament. If your favorite sports team wins in the semi-finals, it means they're a finalist in the last game. A spelling bee finalist is likely to face some really tricky words, and a finalist in a pie-eating contest must be unbelievably good at quick chewing and swallowing. If you don't expect to win even one game in a chess competition, you'll be shocked to find yourself a finalist. An earlier meaning of the word was "one who believes the end has been reached."
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:
Muchova, a 2023 French Open finalist, presents a completely different challenge than Pegula, whose flat strokes stay lower.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Hunter's hard work is paying off, as he has just won the Smrikva Bowl, a junior tournament in Croatia which counts Carlos Alcaraz as a past finalist.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
Her reporting on Jeffrey Epstein’s network and his 50th birthday book was a finalist for the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service and helped provoke the release of millions of Justice Department documents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
He contributed to articles on drug pricing that won a 2015 Award for Excellence in Health Care Journalism and were a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2016.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026
Irina Solovieva was 24 when she became a finalist for cosmonaut training.
From "Women in Space" by Karen Bush Gibson
It will be a fifth Finals Day in the past six years for Hampshire, who last won it in 2022 for a third time and were beaten finalists against Somerset last year.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Six other Dodgers were finalists through the fan ballot, giving them a chance to claim starting spots in Phase 2 of voting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
The mayoral primary, along with a slate of other races, was last Tuesday, but it took a week to determine the second of the top-two finalists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
France, beaten finalists in 2022 and tipped to make a deep run this year, rounded off their preparations in style as Michael Olise struck a hat-trick in a 3-1 defeat of Northern Ireland in Lille.
From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026
That’s why she made all sixteen finalists participate in a synchronized book-cart drill.
From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein
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.
