Synonyms

sudden death

American

noun

Sports.

an overtime period in which a tied contest is won and play is stopped immediately after one of the contestants scores, as in football, or goes ahead, as in golf.

sudden death British

noun

(in sports, etc) an extra game or contest to decide the winner of a tied competition
an unexpected or quick death

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

sudden-death adjective

Etymology

Origin of sudden death

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Meanwhile, the Israeli spy thriller “Tehran,” which just completed its third season, has been shaken by the sudden death of showrunner Dana Eden amid production for its fourth season.

From MarketWatch

Eric Dane said he first shut down emotionally at just 7 years old, when navigating his father’s sudden death from a gunshot wound in a bathroom at his family’s home.

From Los Angeles Times

Authorities are investigating the sudden deaths of a Central Coast couple who pioneered California’s coffee-growing movement from their Santa Barbara County farm.

From Los Angeles Times

If you need a sudden death tiebreaker, you can be very complicated, but you have to be fair.

From Literature

The previous system was basically a modified sudden death system that gave each team at least one chance to score — with one big exception.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023