Crossword clues for runner-up
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
alt. 1 The person who finishes second, or in any position after the first. 2 Second favorite. n. 1 The person who finishes second, or in any position after the first. 2 Second favorite.
WordNet
n. the competitor who finishes second [syn: second best]
[also: runners-up (pl)]
Wikipedia
A runner-up is a participant who finishes in second place in any of a variety of competitive endeavors, especially sporting events and beauty pageants; in the latter instance, the term is applied to more than one of the highest-ranked non-winning contestants, the second-place finisher being designated "first runner-up", the third-place finisher "second runner-up", and so on.
While loosely acceptable for describing any second-place finisher in a sporting event, the "runner-up" label is more properly appended to one that finishes in that position as the result of having lost in the final round of an elimination tournament; specifically, its most frequent use is encountered in tennis, and refers to the player (or doubles team) that loses the final match; in most tennis tournaments, a testimonial award, often in the form of a plate, is given to the runner(s)-up following the final match, with the winner(s) receiving a trophy instead.
In American team sports, the term is usually avoided in official circles, because the team losing in the final round of the postseason playoffs will have had to have won the championship of a lesser entity as a condition for reaching the finals; in basketball, American football and Ice hockey this would have been a conference championship, and in baseball a league championship, or colloquially, the league " pennant". Consequently, the losing finalist will typically be referred to as the champion of its conference (or league in the case of baseball) rather than as a runner-up. Although the team that won the finals will also be a conference (or league in baseball) champion by necessity, it is usually not referred to as such because the title of "finals champion" carries more prestige.
In the Olympic Games, runners-up receive silver medals, and in competitions held at county and state fairs in the United States, a red ribbon traditionally identifies the runner-up (with a blue ribbon signifying the winner, and white, yellow, green, orange, purple, and brown being the colors associated with third through eighth places, in that order).
In politics, runners-up only applies to single member electorates or parties using a first past the post voting systems, such as Great Britain, the United States of America, or Canada. It does not apply to multi-member proportional representation electorates such as exists in Ireland, Ukraine and many European countries.
In late 2015 the US American talk show host Steve Harvey announced the wrong competitor at the Miss Universe Event because he confused "first-runner" with the actual winner. This is a widely common mistake.
Usage examples of "runner-up".
SF Sudoku puzzle, the subject of which was suggested by sudoku contest runner-up Rebecca Mayr, is solved using the letters AERIKNRST.
One was a consumer advocate for CBS television, a former runner-up to Miss North Carolina in the Miss America contest, thirty years old, rather puckishly committed to a variation on the original Ann-Margret coiffure which, given all proper due, admirably suited her auburn hair, opinionated, contentious beyond belief, and directly responsible for a Xerox price rollback that had cost the firm nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
The witenagemot would elect a new king, no doubt, and the runner-up would immediately challenge.
Both were excellent boxers, as you know, and Barricharan was runner-up to Foulkes in the Victor Ludorum in athletics.
Ressler recognizes: Linus Pauling, Nobel laureate, supreme figure of American chemistry, he of vitamin C and the covalent bond, structural elucidator of any number of organic molecules, and nip-and-tuck runner-up to the three-dimensional solution of DNA.
It was a pertinent question and Bandar now noticed that attached to the lapel of his robe were the pin and pendant of a runner-up for the Fezzani Prize, a notable academic achievement.
There, dressed up as kindly old Mother Paula herself, was none other than Kimberly Lou Dixon, the former Miss America runner-up.
Her name suggested a second runner-up for a Junior Miss pageant, or maybe a budding actress whose real name is Wanda Maxine Smith.
The second runner-up will be awarded a fifty-dollar savings bond, and the first runner-up will be awarded a shopping spree in Toy City.
It's great to go to-we're league champions in basketball and our square-dance team is state runner-up and we have a swell sock hop every Wednesday.