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runner-up

[ruhn-er-uhp]
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noun, plural run·ners-up.
  1. the competitor, player, or team finishing in second place, as in a race, contest, or tournament.
  2. runners-up, the competitors who do not win a contest but who place ahead of the majority of the contestants and share in prizes or honors, as those who place second, third, and fourth, or in the top ten.
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Origin of runner-up

First recorded in 1835–45
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for runner-up

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • A purse of $50 was offered for the winner and $30 for the runner-up.

    The Dogs of Boytown

    Walter A. Dyer

  • I won one once—runner-up in the fifth flight over at San Gabriel.

    Fore!

    Charles Emmett Van Loan

  • You see they do say I'm runner-up among the amateurs on the green links.

  • However, as a traitor, I'm not even a runner-up with your father.

  • Last week Mrs. Clement Barstow was runner-up in the women's amateur golf tournament played on the Okoochee eighteen-hole course.

    Gigolo

    Edna Ferber

British Dictionary definitions for runner-up

runner-up

noun plural runners-up
  1. a contestant finishing a race or competition in second place
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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

Word Origin and History for runner-up

n.

1842, originally in dog racing, "dog that loses only the final race;" see runner + up. General sense is from 1885.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper