runner-up

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.

He also was runner-up in 2019 and 2023, and finished third in 2024 in addition to 2025.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026

Aiken rose to fame as the earnest, vocally gifted runner-up on “American Idol” circa 2003.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026

He does so having just won the Valspar Championship, a week after finishing a close runner-up to Cameron Young at the Players.

From BBC • Mar. 23, 2026

In Paris, the race is looking tight between leftist Emmanuel Gregoire, a former deputy of outgoing Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo, and his runner-up, right-wing ex-minister Rachida Dati.

From Barron's • Mar. 22, 2026

On the corner of Sterling and Commonwealth was the old Masonic Temple, where one Saturday afternoon thirty-five years before, Milton had been runner-up in a spelling bee.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides