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playoffs

nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,641 of 15,258mostly written

The playoffs are the knockout matches after the regular season that decide the champion. Make the playoffs, playoff spot, out of the playoffs.

The system is standard in North American sport and in English football's lower divisions, where the playoffs decide the last promotion place — and the final is routinely called the richest match in football. The format rewards form at the right moment rather than consistency over a season, which is exactly the argument against it.

Definitions of playoffs

  1. 1nounplayoffsThe knockout matches after the regular season that decide the champion.B2+

    “The team won their last three games to reach the playoffs.”

playoffs is a competition stage.

Also accepted in games: playoff

Where it comes from

playoff a deverbal from play off; by surface analysis, play + -off.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Sports & Fitness

Practise this word

playoffs in the wild

  • In England and Scotland, playoffs are used to decide promotion for lower-finishing teams, rather than to decide a champion in the way they are used in North America.

    Playoffs

  • The National Football League (NFL) playoffs is the annual single-elimination tournament held to determine the league champion.

    NFL playoffs

  • In 1967, the playoffs were expanded to four teams (division winners).

    NFL playoffs

  • The Pro Football Hall of Fame and the National Football League include AFL playoffs in their statistics for the NFL playoffs.

    American Football League playoffs

  • The National Football League playoffs for the 1971 season began on December 25, 1971.

    1971–72 NFL playoffs

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.