face-off
Americannoun
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face-offs
plural
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the act of facing the puck, as at the start of a game or period.
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an open confrontation.
noun
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ice hockey the method of starting a game, in which the referee drops the puck, etc between two opposing players
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a confrontation
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of face-off
First recorded in 1895–1900; noun use of verb phrase face off
Explanation
A face-off is an in-person confrontation, like the face-off between rival ice hockey players or a face-off between presidential candidates on a debate stage. You can use the noun face-off whenever two people have a face-to-face showdown. You could even describe the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr as a face-off (a deadly one, as it turned out). Rival groups or teams confronting each other is also a face-off, like the big championship face-off at the end of basketball season. This sports context is the way the word was originally used, dating from at least 1886.
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:
Broadcast live globally on Netflix, Beat Luke Littler featured a host of amateur players taking on world number one Littler in a one-leg face-off at Manchester Central.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
The Vatican invited Anthropic to a launch event for Pope Leo’s encyclical, citing the company’s ethics following its face-off with the U.S.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
Garcia did not appear for a scheduled face-off at Mandalay Bay on Tuesday, with Benn told beforehand that the champion would not be attending.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
Days before California voters receive their mail-in ballots, gubernatorial candidates Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, and Steve Hilton, a Republican, will debate in a nationally televised face-off.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
The stage was set for the first and most sensational face-off of the Cold War era in the United States.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
But this week she has welled up under the glare of the cameras and stayed a fraction longer during face-offs to absorb the magnitude of the moment.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Game and player data can also be used to create content like fantasy league face-offs that will keep fans coming back even in the off seasons, when there are no big games.
From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026
These face-offs - as seen in the Eminem film 8Mile - are where artists compete live, swapping disses and trying to spit the best bars to take home the prize.
From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2025
Other good-natured face-offs have worked to settle feuds or team up old rivals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2024
The fights are copious, and in another new twist for “Star Wars,” many of them take the form of balletic martial arts face-offs.
From New York Times ● Jun. 4, 2024
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
