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tiebreaker

American  
[tahy-brey-ker] / ˈtaɪˌbreɪ kər /
Often tiebreak

noun

  1. a system for breaking a tie score at the end of regulation play by establishing a winner through special additional play, usually of a fairly short duration, as in tennis and soccer.


Etymology

Origin of tiebreaker

First recorded in 1960–65; tie + breaker 1

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.

If all three teams go 1-1 in round-robin play, a tiebreaker based on point differential will be used to determine the two finalists.

From Los Angeles Times

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

From Literature

The Sooners won the meet on a tiebreaker.

From Los Angeles Times

Baker Mayfield won the NFC South in each of his first two seasons with the Buccaneers, but lost out to the Carolina Panthers this time around on tiebreakers after the Atlanta Falcons won on Sunday.

From The Wall Street Journal

The New England Patriots won on Sunday but had to settle for second spot with Denver owning the tiebreaker and they will host the Chargers, who rested their starters, next week in Foxborough.

From BBC