best (out) of three/five/seven

idiom

—used to say that the winner of a series of games, sets, etc. will be the one that wins the majority of the odd number (three, five, seven, etc.) maximum to be played

The team advanced to the finals by winning the best out of seven semifinal series four games to one.

The winner of a best of five set tennis match must win three sets.

Examples of best (out) of three/five/seven in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

These teams will play best out of three full matches to determine who advances, so by the end of the weekend these players will certainly be familiar with each other. —Todd Boss, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024

Beating him over the best of three won't be enough. —Tim Ellis, Forbes, 17 Jan. 2025

But unlike a presidential campaign, the World Series is finite, a best of seven. —airmail.news, 2 Nov. 2024

Against such a fearsome server this kind of display is always a risk, much more so over best of three sets rather than best of five at the slams, which is absolutely Djokovic’s priority right now. —Charlie Eccleshare, The Athletic, 3 Jan. 2025

The World Series Championship is determined by the best out of seven games, meaning the first team to win four games wins the title. —Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 25 Oct. 2024

Both fields will play best of three sets with the winner of a set being the first to reach six games (winning by at least two games). —NBC News, 28 July 2024

The best of three championship series is scheduled for Aug. 5, 7 and 9, if necessary. —Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 28 July 2024

The match will be a best of five series, with the winners taking home more than a million dollars and, of course, the title of Dota 2 world champions. —Mike Stubbs, Forbes, 15 Sep. 2024