preliminary rounds
Before the finals
Preliminary rounds are the early stages of a competition or tournament that narrow the field before the main event.
Athletes, teams, or contestants must advance through preliminary rounds to reach later stages like semifinals and finals: She was eliminated in the preliminary rounds.
Often shortened to prelims.
- qualifyingMeeting required criteria
- heatsIncreases temperature
- trialsFormal legal proceedings
- seedingPlanting or ranking
- bracketsMarks setting off text
tryouts · auditions · play-in game · opener · warmup · knockouts · group stage · playoffs · selection committee · cutoff · cut line · advancement · contenders · bubble team · field · competition · tournament · matches
- pageantsbeauty pageant, beauty pageants, beauty queen, beauty queens, contestant
- debaterebuttal, argument, rebuttals, refute, case
- tournament bracketsbracket, seed, seedings, second seed, top seed
- Miss Eartheco-fashion, environmental advocacy, tree planting, beach cleanup, sash
- moot courtmoot court, oral arguments, oral argument, legal briefs, petitioner
preliminary roundsfinals
Concluding tests or matches
championship · final round · grand final · title match · finale
preliminary roundssemifinals
Penultimate tournament round
quarterfinals · medal round · knockout stage · playoff finals · ultimate showdown
preliminary, rounds, round, rounded, rounding, rounder, roundest, roundly, roundness