faces off

verb

present tense third-person singular of face off
as in competes
to engage in a contest eager to face off with her longtime tennis rival

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of faces off With Kean running unopposed in the June 2 Republican primary, whichever Democrat faces off against him in November will almost certainly shape their campaign around his disappearance. — Zachary Schermele, USA Today, 23 May 2026 The singer faces off with Priestly just before an Italian fashion show performance. — Nigel Smith, PEOPLE, 2 May 2026 Jordan's character, a billionaire, faces off against a former FBI agent (played by Adria Arjona). — Saba Hamedy, NBC news, 17 Apr. 2026 These people have already drunk their faces off. — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2026 Pattinson can be heard as the announcer during the British Open semifinals scene toward the beginning of the A24 film, before Chalamet’s Marty Mauser faces off against Hungarian champion Bela Kletzki (Géza Röhrig). — Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 13 Jan. 2026 Every three years, the division faces off against a division from the NFC. — Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 Jan. 2026 Christopher plays Anatoly Sergievsky, a Soviet chess champion who faces off against an American (Aaron Tveit), with a woman caught between them (Lea Michele). — Michael Schulman, New Yorker, 10 Nov. 2025 Before Alabama faces off against the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday, Saban offered a word of warning to head coach Kalen DeBoer and his Crimson Tide. — Andrew McCarty, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for faces off
  1. competes
  2. contends
  3. races
Verb
  • The process comes with challenges, though, as moving quality enforcement upstream takes engineering effort that competes with delivery deadlines.
    — Jay Limburn, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026
  • The rollout comes as Netflix competes for audience time from YouTube and social media platforms such as TikTok that have viral videos that can occupy users for hours.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2026
Definition of competes
Verb
  • The 12-state coalition, however, contends that the opposite is true.
    — David Zimmermann, The Washington Examiner, 13 July 2026
  • The Paramount response, via a two-page press release, followed the filing of the lawsuit, which contends that the merger will create an anticompetitive entity controlling too much of the pay-TV and movie studio sectors.
    — Dade Hayes, Deadline, 13 July 2026
Definition of contends
Verb
  • Once inside, the burglar sends in a robotic assistant that races through the rooms, checks drawers, copies keys, locks cabinets and writes a demand note asking for money to unlock the data.
    — Ron Schmelzer, Forbes.com, 10 July 2026
  • As is common with Enola Holmes films, zippy flashbacks and kicky montages illuminate what led up to all of this, but there’s an energy missing here, as the film races to get back into the present Maltese moment, which feels dire indeed.
    — Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 30 June 2026
Definition of races

Browse Nearby Words

faces
faces off
faces up (to)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Faces off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/faces%20off. Accessed 15 Jul. 2026.

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