sudden death

American  

noun

Sports.

1. an overtime period in which a tied contest is won and play is stopped immediately after one of the contestants scores, as in football, or goes ahead, as in golf.

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sudden death British  

noun

1. (in sports, etc) an extra game or contest to decide the winner of a tied competition

2. an unexpected or quick death

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Other Word Forms

• sudden-death
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of sudden death

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sudden death

We start this week in Washington, where lawmakers are reeling from the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham over the weekend.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

The debate took on another dimension with the sudden death of Lindsey Graham at 71 after what his office described as a brief illness.

From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026

As news of Tree’s death circulated, numerous music stars paid tribute, including “Buy U a Drank” hitmaker T-Pain, who shared that he and Tree had connected before the singer’s sudden death.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

Only two shootouts have gone to sudden death - with a 50% hit rate of the four players taking the sixth penalties - and none have gone beyond that.

From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026

If you need a sudden death tiebreaker, you can be very complicated, but you have to be fair.

From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan