semifinal

• semi-final

From Latin semifinalis, equivalent to semi- +‎ final.

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -aɪnəl

semifinal (plural semifinals)

1. (sports) A playoff in the round with only four players or teams left, the stage before the final.
   • 2008 June 14, The Associated Press, “Federer Extends Streak”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Roger Federer extended his grasscourt streak to 57 matches with a victory over Marcos Baghdatis and will play Nicolas Kiefer in the semifinals of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany.

   • 2008, Pete Sampras, Peter Bodo, Pete Sampras: A Champion's Mind, published 2010, unnumbered page:

     In the 1991 Wimbledon semifinal between Michael Stich and Stefan Edberg, there was just one service break in the entire match, and the guy whose serve was broken, Stich, ended up winning the match!

   • 2024 September 6, Jordan Valinsky, “Ticket prices for the all-American men’s matchup at the US Open are surging”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     The highly anticipated all-American matchup between Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe — marking the first US Open semifinals between two US men in nearly 20 years — will cost you quite a few Honey Deuces to attend.

   • 2024 September 9, Michael Dominski, “Everything that happened on Day 9 of the US Open with Navarro, Fritz and Tiafoe advancing to the semifinal”, in The New York Times‎^[3]:

     Badosa has the slightly more explosive power, but if Navarro can redirect the pace of Badosa’s shots effectively, she could well be on the way to a first Grand Slam semifinal.

2. A competition that narrows a field of contestants (semifinalists) to a set of finalists, for a subsequent final.

• last four
• semi

• semifinalist

• final
• quarterfinal

• → Swedish: semifinal
• → Turkish: semifinal

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˌsɛ.mi.fiˈnal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˌse.mi.fiˈnal]

semifinal f (plural semifinals)

1. semifinal

• semifinalista

• “semifinal”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “semifinal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “semifinal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “semifinal” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

• semi-final (pre-standardization spelling, now a misspelling)

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: se‧mi‧fi‧nal

semifinal f (plural semifinais)

1. (sports) semifinal (penultimate stage of a competition)

   Synonym: meia-final

From semi- +‎ final.

• IPA^(key): /semifiˈnal/ [se.mi.fiˈnal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: se‧mi‧fi‧nal

semifinal f (plural semifinales)

1. semifinal, semi-final

   Synonym: (colloquial) semi

• “semifinal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

Borrowed from English semifinal, equivalent to semi- +‎ final.

semifinal c

1. semifinal

• semifinal in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• semifinal in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• semifinal in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Borrowed from English semifinal.

• IPA^(key): /seˈmi.fi.nal/
• Hyphenation: se‧mi‧fi‧nal

semifinal (definite accusative semifinali, plural semifinaller)

1. (sports) semifinal

   Synonyms: dömifinal, yarı final

   • 1971, Milliyet Gazetesi:

     Olimpiyad şampiyonu Davenport ile semifinalde yanşan Milburn mükemmel bir koşu çıkartarak...

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)