Word.ws English Dictionary

runner-up

UK/ˌɹʌn.əˈɹʌp//ˌɹʌn.ɚˈʌp/

runner-up noun: the person who finishes second, or in any position after the first.

Noun

runner-up (plural runners-up or (colloquial, nonstandard) runner-ups)

  1. The person who finishes second, or in any position after the first.
    • Remember, if the winner cannot complete the duties, the runner-up will take over.
  2. Second favourite.
    • For years, Twitter was a runner-up social media company. It never grew to the size and scale of a Facebook or an Instagram. It simply muddled along.2022 July 11, Kate Conger, Mike Isaac, “How Elon Musk Damaged Twitter and Left It Worse Off”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

runner-up meaning in Hindi, Tagalog, Arabic and Malay

runner-up in Hindi

the person who finishes in any position after the first
उपविजेता upvijetā

runner-up in Tagalog

the person who finishes in any position after the first
napabilang, pangalawang-nabibilang, prinsesa

runner-up in Arabic

the person who finishes in any position after the first
وَصِيفَة waṣīfa

runner-up in Malay

the person who finishes in any position after the first
naib johan, naib juara, tempat kedua
More languagesFewer languages
runner-up in Indonesian
juara kedua, peringkat kedua, wakil juara
runner-up in Vietnamese
á quân

Forms of runner-up

pluralrunners-up
alternative formrunner up
plural (nonstandard, colloquial)runner-ups

Questions about runner-up

What does runner-up mean?
Runner-up means the person who finishes second, or in any position after the first.
What is runner-up in Hindi?
Runner-up in Hindi is उपविजेता (upvijetā). See Runner-up meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is runner-up?
Runner-up is a noun.
How do you pronounce runner-up?
Runner-up is pronounced /ˌɹʌn.əˈɹʌp/ (UK).
What is the plural of runner-up?
The plural of runner-up is runners-up.

Words near runner-up in the dictionary

  1. runner's diarrhoea
  2. runner's high
  3. runner's knee
  4. runner's trots
  5. runner-runner
  6. runner-up
  7. runner-ups
  8. runnerless
  9. runners
  10. runners and riders
  11. runners knee

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: runner-up (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-runner-up.oga.

Cite this entry: “runner-up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/runner-up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.