Playoff

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A competition held to identify a winner after preliminary rounds in which ties may occur
2. A final stage contest in a sport or game to determine the ultimate winner following earlier matches
3. A series of games or matches in sports played to settle a tie or to pick the champion after regular play

Etymology: "Playoff" is a deverbal noun, formed from the phrasal verb "play off," which means to settle a tie by playing an extra contest. The noun is built on the verb rather than on the two separate words "play" and "off," although on the surface it looks like a simple combination of them. The sense of "off" here comes from the older idea of finishing something or bringing it to a conclusion, so a playoff is literally the game that brings a tied contest to its end.

Synonyms: tiebreaker, finale