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

And this year, a loss on the final day of the season kept the Mets tied with Cincinnati, who advanced above them on another tiebreaker. —Will Sammon, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025

After free-falling from a 45-24 record in mid-June to an 83-79 finish, the Mets missed the playoffs because of a tiebreaker. —Jackson Roberts, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025

Cleveland and Detroit are tied atop the AL Central, with Guardians owning ghe tiebreaker but Tigers assured a wild card. —Miami Herald, 28 Sep. 2025

And then Shooter was the tiebreaker — not the tie-breaker, maybe, but the voice of reason that somehow got in there. —Chris Willman, Variety, 28 Sep. 2025

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