also-ran

Related to also-ran: Propylidene

also-ran

Someone who is unimportant or unsuccessful. The phrase originated in horse racing. That guy is definitely an also-ran—his best days in the league are far behind him.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

also-ran

someone of no significance. (From horse racing, used of a horse that finishes a race but that does not finish among the money winners.) Oh, he's just another also-ran. Ignore the also-rans.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

also-ran

Loser, failure, unsuccessful individual, as in Jane feared that her candidate, a terrible speaker, would end up as an also-ran, or As for getting promotions, Mark counted himself among the also-rans. This term comes from racing, where it describes a horse that finishes in fourth place or lower or does not finish a race at all. It first appeared in the 1890s in published racing results, and has since been transferred to losers in any kind of competition, and also more broadly to persons who simply don't do well.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

also ran

A loser. The term comes from late nineteenth-century horse racing, where it signified a horse that ran a race but failed to win, place, or show. It was later broadened to any kind of competitor—in an election or other contest—who lost.
See also: also, ran
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • also ran
  • abbreviated piece of nothing
  • a nobody
  • be breaking a butterfly on a wheel
  • break a butterfly on a wheel
  • not anything to write home about
  • not something to write home about
  • not worth writing home about
  • that's hardly saying much
  • that's not saying much
References in periodicals archive
LOS ANGELES: Pop singer Katy won a leading nine nominations for the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards Wednesday, reducing eccentric superstar Lady Gaga to also-ran status with just three nods.
Katy Perry beats Gaga in MTV nominations
'I want to be rivalling the best, not another also-ran.
RHYS: I'M DETERMINED TO KICK ON FROM HERE
Ted Turner is an also-ran as a media mogul and the trailblazing news network he founded is basic cable's equivalent of your father's Oldsmobile.
Gulf of misunderstanding: what this war says about the state of the media. (Rant)
is going from a world leader in UBC recycling to an also-ran. The U.S.
Hot topics in Texas: attendees of the National Recycling Coalition Annual Congress in Austin had plenty to talk about. (Municipal Recycling Update)
As for entering a handsome hunk competition I would consider it to be lowering my standards to compete in a contest in which I would certainly be victorious, thereby causing humiliation and jealousy amongst a vainglorious bunch of also-ran mere mortals.
Letter: Sweet & sour
Terra, meanwhile, was the union of Telefonica of Spain's Internet providers and also-ran providers in Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela and the Southern Cone.
CLICK HERE NOW
being champion or an also-ran is often measured in inches, but the difference in rewards for the winner and the also-ran is enormous.
Almost doesn't count
Programs that offer elaborate explanations about why the organization is an also-ran and laying off more people are organizational suicide.
Is Your Orientation Program An Adhesive or A Solvent?
It is often the difference between being a winner and an also-ran.
Is it in the plan?
Angelo Weiss, an also-ran for most of his nine seasons on the circuit, shot to unexpected fame by becoming the first Italian skier since Alberto Tomba to win a World Cup slalom.
Winter Sports: Weiss and easy goes the winner
But it has re-emerged from the also-ran to front-runner status on fresh fruit, which Publix now prepares elegantly and efficiently in a contemporary, open-to-view prep rooms that are entertaining and appealing as the chefs on view in California's Spago and look-alike restaurants everywhere.
PEELED ORANGES AT PUBLIX
AOL kiosks in each Wal-Mart store would help the store "instantly transfer its Internet operations from also-ran to leadership."
America Online
With less money and a smaller staff than former Vice President Dan Quayle, veteran Christian right activist Gary Bauer, or publisher Steve Forbes, Buchanan could have been no more than another rightwing also-ran if he chose just to emphasize social issues.
Buchanan to the Left of Them
As for becoming a Linux server company, "it beats becoming an NT also-ran," observes Merrill Lynch & Co.
SGI Says It Can Differentiate on Linux Better Than NT
In the course of a brief review of Paul Brach, an also-ran in the field of close-valued abstraction, he offers in a few lines some of the most acute remarks on Ad Reinhardt that I know.
Art and Objecthood: Essays and Reviews