tiebreaker

noun

tie·​break·​er ˈtī-ˌbrā-kər 

plural tiebreakers

1

: an additional contest or period of play used to select a winner when a competition or part of a competition ends in a tie

… after a 90-minute rain delay in the third set, won a riveting tiebreaker.

—L. Jon Wertheim

called also tiebreak

2

: a person whose vote breaks a tie

The vice president served as a tiebreaker in the last Senate vote.

3

: a final vote, point, or score that determines the winner in a contest

She cast the tiebreaker.

Examples of tiebreaker in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The tiebreaker for lottery odds has nothing to do with head-to-head or anything that happened on the field this season. — Tim Britton, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026

However, New York still has a 2 1/2-game lead on Boston, plus the head-to-head tiebreaker. — ABC News, 7 Sep. 2026

Forty-something Williams sisters Serena and Venus lost in first round of doubles but thrilled the crowd, going three sets -- the last two in long tiebreakers. — Greg Cote september 6, Miami Herald, 6 Sep. 2026

The surging Phillies moved into a tie for the first NL wild-card position entering Monday, though the Cubs hold the season series tiebreaker over Philadelphia. — Meghan Montemurro, Chicago Tribune, 1 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1904, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Rhymes for tiebreaker

• blackacre
• caretaker
• clockmaker
• dressmaker
• filmmaker
• homemaker
• icebreaker
• lawmaker
• matchmaker
• pacemaker
• partaker
• peacemaker