last man standing

Noun

last man standing (countable and uncountable, plural last men standing)

1. (countable) The final person remaining in a battle or competition after everyone else has been eliminated.
   • One contestant will be eliminated at the end of every round. The last man standing wins $1,000,000.
   • “Good idea,” Robbo said. “I'm sure there are going to be more rounds in this fight. It's a matter of who wins the last round because there are no judges awarding points here. Last man standing is the winner.”2003, Ray Green, Demize, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 170
2. (uncountable) A multiplayer deathmatch gameplay mode in which the last surviving player is the winner.
   • In Last Man Standing mode, you are in an arena with the other player, but you cannot directly attack one another. Instead, you must fight the enemies, and the player who fights the best and survives the longest, wins.2003, Bart Farkas, Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu Official Strategy Guide, Bradygames, →ISBN, page 7
   • “Remember that last-man-standing mode they had for a while?” she asked as they goofed around in the rally locationwhile waiting for the next match to begin.
     “The one where it was, like, twenty teams on one map? Last team standing wins? Battleground Mode, or whatever?”2022 April 18, W. C. Collier, OUTSIDERS: Vol. I, BookLocker.com, Inc., →ISBN