finalist

Etymology

It is formed from English final + -ist.^[2][3][4][5] Merriam-Webster takes it instead from French finaliste, formed from final and -iste;^[6][7] the OED, which revised the entry in 2025, only compares the French word, recorded from 1808, and Italian finalista, from 1832 or earlier.^[2] The adjective itself is from Late Latin fīnālis.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who believes that something is final, allowing no change or development: 1839, in the Carnarvon & Denbigh Herald.^[2] Etymonline and the 1989 OED dated this sense from 1883.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

The first senses belonged to philosophy and politics: a believer in the finality of something (1839), and later, from 1847, a believer that natural processes such as evolution are directed towards a goal.^[2] The sporting sense, a competitor who reaches the final, is first recorded in Scotland in 1885;^[2] Etymonline dated it to 1896 and Merriam-Webster to 1898.^[3][10] From 1907 a finalist was also a student taking final examinations.^[2][4] The older senses are now rare.^[4]

Timeline

• 1839 – a believer in the finality of something.^[2]
• 1847 – a believer that natural processes are directed towards a goal.^[2]
• 1876 – adjective, relating to finalism.^[2]
• 1885 – a competitor in a final, first in Scotland.^[2]
• 1907 – a student taking final examinations.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A contestant, team or entry that has reached the final of a competition: She was a finalist in the national spelling contest.^{[11][12][6][2]}
2. A student taking final examinations.^[2][4]
3. (rare) A believer in finalism, the view that natural processes are directed towards an end; a teleologist.^[6][2]
4. (rare) A person who believes that an end or limit has been reached.^[2][4]

Adjective

1. Relating to or believing in finalism; teleological.^[6][2]

Word family

• quarterfinalist
• semifinalist

Related words

• final
• finalism
• finale

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin