also-ran

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.

Seeded as an also-ran at No. 23, she upset Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova before falling in a tight three-set match to Amanda Anisimova.

From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2026

Even classical music listeners have their version in what may be the most legendary rivalry of all — the one that also-ran Italian composer Antonio Salieri supposedly nursed with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

From Salon • May 16, 2026

Intel has gone from a chip also-ran to a legitimate player in the AI computing boom.

From Barron's • May 1, 2026

But so many better horror features have been constructed along the same lines—“X,” “House of 1000 Corpses”— that this one comes across as merely a tedious also-ran.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

With Rosemont in the race, no one had any reason to believe that the horse Tom Smith was leading down the platform would be anything more than an also-ran.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand