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finalist

finalist

103 2.0
A person or team that reaches the last stage of a competition
  • noun
  • /ˈfaɪnəlɪst/
translation icon : finalista
  • After several rounds of challenges, only three finalists remained in the race for the championship.
  • select finalists
  • award finalists
  • national finalists

In wrestling he is a two time NCWA Division One National Champion and four time finalist.

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Examples

  • She has received many honours and awards and has twice been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in both poetry and in biography.

  • Joining me today is Harvard grad and the youngest finalist on Master Chef.

  • Give it up for our third finalist, The One!

  • You guys will compete against each other to see who the next finalist will be.

  • Please welcome our first finalist...

  • We actually have somebody who was a graduate of this class who was a near finalist on Top Chef.

  • All right, could the finalists please enter?

  • Mr. Gray said there were three finalists and I was one of them.

  • Awards: White Man's Grave was a finalist for the 1994 National Book Awards.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Four William C. Morris YA Debut Award finalists were named.

    Academic text (2011)

How Advanced

winner
1.0
finalist
103 2.0
qualifier
18 3.7
participant
295 2.4
entrant
14 4.3

Surface Forms

finalist singular
finalists plural

Morphology

finalist = final (transparent) = final + ist

Formed by the adjective 'final' plus the agentive/person-forming suffix '-ist', so the meaning 'person in the final' is directly derived.

Etymology

The word finalist comes from final meaning 'end' and the suffix -ist meaning 'person', just like finish talks about the end. So a finalist is a person who has reached the 'final' or last stage of a competition.