as in rivalry
an earnest effort for superiority or victory over another
the annual fall face-off between these traditional rivals is a big event for both football-mad colleges
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of face-off
Bobby Allyn, NPR, 6 Mar. 2026
An eighth-grader at Maranatha Christian School won the county spelling bee Thursday, beating his closest rival after a one-on-one face-off that lasted 13 rounds.
—Jemma Stephenson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Mar. 2026
Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 19 Mar. 2026
Miller will face off in November against Republican Michael Noack, who was unopposed.
—Arkansas Online, 18 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for face-off
Noun
Mansour, in a December podcast interview, likened his beef with Coplan with one of the most rousing rivalries in NFL history, the face-off between Tom Brady and Eli Manning over football quarterback supremacy.
—Bobby Allyn, NPR, 6 Mar. 2026
An eighth-grader at Maranatha Christian School won the county spelling bee Thursday, beating his closest rival after a one-on-one face-off that lasted 13 rounds.
—Jemma Stephenson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Mar. 2026
Verb
Players face off against the (literal) Devil in a card game in which the loser of each hand gets their fingers cut off by a buzzsaw in the table.
—Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 19 Mar. 2026
Miller will face off in November against Republican Michael Noack, who was unopposed.
—Arkansas Online, 18 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for face-off
Recent Examples of Synonyms for face-off
Noun
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The Knicks beat the Nets for the 14th straight time, the longest winning streak for either team in the local rivalry.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
21 Mar. 2026
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Manchester City This must feel like being between a rock and a hard place for Manchester United fans given their long-standing rivalries with both clubs.—
Caoimhe O'Neill,
New York Times,
21 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Republicans are, for the most part, supportive of transgender policies Trump has asked them to tack on as well, one that would restrict surgeries for minors and another preventing biological males from competing in women’s sports.—
David Sivak,
The Washington Examiner,
23 Mar. 2026
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About 93% of 35,000 villages, towns and cities selected their mayors in the first round last week, with mostly one or two candidates, not associated with any party, competing.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
23 Mar. 2026
Noun
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At the time of the initial gun battle, the MacEgans were on an afternoon walk through a nearby field.—
Rosalio Ahumada,
Sacbee.com,
26 Mar. 2026
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So California may be readying to wage a two-front battle — the familiar one against smog, but a second, altogether new one, against an administration determined to let California get smoggy again.—
Patt Morrison,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Advocates contend the findings reveal troubling conditions behind an industry that supplies plants and flowers to major retailers across the country.—
Ivan Taylor,
CBS News,
25 Mar. 2026
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Time will tell if the Halos have enough talent to contend in a division the Seattle Mariners are heavily favored to win.—
Steve Galluzzo,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Mar. 2026
Noun
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In training at Chelsea, Hayes was really hot on winning your duels.—
Karen Carney,
New York Times,
20 Mar. 2026
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Froehlich and Sawyer Pruitt faced off in an intense pitching duel, with neither side yielding an inch.—
Caleb Yum,
Austin American Statesman,
20 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Iowa inbounded the ball to Stirtz, who raced toward halfcourt and fired a pass to Folgueiras waiting in the corner for the game-winner.—
Edgar Thompson,
The Orlando Sentinel,
23 Mar. 2026
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My awe had barely subsided when, two minutes later, James got the ball, raced just past the free-throw line, and took flight.—
Louisa Thomas,
New Yorker,
22 Mar. 2026
Noun
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One of the two women's boxing gold medalists at the center of the gender controversy in Paris, Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan, has passed her gene test and can return to competition, the World Boxing governing body said last week.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
26 Mar. 2026
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The Sora rollback is part of a broader shift within OpenAI, once the undisputed frontrunner in the AI race that now faces serious competition from rivals such as Anthropic and Google.—
Allison Morrow,
CNN Money,
26 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The darkest moment in Iran’s recent history brought Pahlavi into direct confrontation with the regime that had long ignored him.—
Azadeh Moaveni,
New Yorker,
22 Mar. 2026
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The confrontation came just days after another judge ruled that the three-person leadership structure installed after Habba’s disqualification was itself unlawful, although that decision has been paused pending appeal.—
Kaelan Deese,
The Washington Examiner,
22 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Face-off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/face-off. Accessed 28 Mar. 2026.
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