playoff

/ˌpleɪˈɔf/

/ˈpleɪɒf/

Other forms: playoffs

In sports, the games that determine who will make it to the championship are known as playoffs. After the football playoffs, you'll know if your favorite team will be playing in the Super Bowl.

Playoffs are also known as postseason games; they're the penultimate competitions at the very end of a sport's season. Playoff games whittle all the best teams down to just two, like the NBA's best-of-seven-games playoff tournament, which starts with 16 teams in the running for those final two spots. Before the 20th century, playoff or play-off meant "finish completely." In the 1930s, the word gained its sports usage.

Definitions of playoff

1. noun

   any competition to determine a championship
   types:

   World Series

   series that constitutes the playoff for the baseball championship

   type of:

   competition, contest

   an occasion on which a winner is selected from among two or more contestants