playoff

Language: en

🇺🇸 /ˈpleɪˌɔf/

📖 Definitions

  1. noun
    A series of games or matches played after the regular season to determine a champion or winner, typically among the top-performing teams or players.; A tiebreaker game or match played to decide a winner when two or more competitors are tied at the end of regular play.; The act or process of playing off; a decisive contest or competition to settle a dispute or determine superiority.; A final series of games in a sports league that determines the overall champion, often structured as a bracket or elimination tournament.
  2. adjective
    Relating to or characteristic of a playoff series or postseason competition.

🔗 Details

Word forms

countable Plural: playoffs

Collocations

make the playoffsplayoff gameplayoff seriesplayoff berthplayoff spotplayoff bracketplayoff round

Derivatives

playoffs

Synonyms

postseasontiebreakerdeciderchampionshipfinal

Antonyms

regular season

Commonly confused

play off
EN: 'play off' (two words) is the verb phrase meaning to compete in a deciding game; 'playoff' (one word) is the noun or adjective form.
play-off
EN: 'play-off' is the hyphenated variant, more common in British English; 'playoff' (closed) is standard in American English.

Spelling tips

EN: In American English, 'playoff' (one word) is standard for the noun/adjective; in British English, 'play-off' (hyphenated) is preferred. The verb form is always two words: 'play off'.

💬 Examples

  1. The team clinched a spot in the playoffs with their victory on Sunday.

  2. The two golfers had to go into a sudden-death playoff to decide the tournament.

  3. The playoff between the two finalists was intense and went into overtime.

  4. The NBA playoffs begin in April and can last until June.

  5. He set a new playoff record with 45 points in a single game.