also-ran

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of also-ran Gwendolyn Brooks, Chicago’s Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, wrote of life’s also-rans Gwendolyn Brooks grew up in a South Side house full of books and was a poet from an early age, eventually becoming the first Black to win a Pulitzer Prize in poetry. Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 1 May 2025 The idea is not to fill the Kentucky Derby gate with also-rans. Guy Martin, Forbes.com, 30 Apr. 2025 The anticlimactic contest between two West also-rans missing three All-Stars tips off at 7 p.m. PT. David Faris, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 Apr. 2025 As the team’s First Nations players, fans, and also-rans shape their lives beyond the ice, generational trauma, addiction, and a paucity of choices loom large. Monitor Contributors, Christian Science Monitor, 11 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for also-ran
Recent Examples of Synonyms for also-ran
Noun
  • Sun-soaked, punk rock ’70s California, a fraught family safari in Africa, a frustrated has-been and a digital future portrayed in a PowerPoint presentation show how disparate lives can affect each other.
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 14 Apr. 2025
  • Her being nominated for playing a grotesque has-been is, at the very least, a delicious irony.
    Tom Gliatto, People.com, 2 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • These tactics help colleges maximize institutional capacity when fall entrants fail to return in the spring.
    Heather Wishart-Smith, Forbes.com, 21 May 2025
  • Only entrants are permitted to see who else has entered and how many tickets have been issued.
    Lana Bortolot, New York Times, 20 May 2025
Noun
  • Another high-profile entry in the Cold Case series was the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey, as the series focuses on well, Cold Cases that went unsolved, as the name suggests.
    Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 27 May 2025
  • After being a key member of New Bethlehem, she’s been stripped of her passport and has been refused entry by Canada and the European Union.
    Barry Levitt, Time, 27 May 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Also-ran.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/also-ran. Accessed 1 Jun. 2025.

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