noun

• 1The transfer of a competitor directly to the next round of a competition in the absence of an assigned opponent.

  ‘he has a bye into the second round’

  More example sentences

  • ‘All 16 seeded players received byes into the second round.’
  • ‘Where's the justice in eliminating more non-league teams in the qualifying rounds than is necessary, only for league clubs to be given byes in the first round proper of the competition?’
  • ‘Again, there would be a two-day playoff, but without byes.’
  • ‘But nothing says that only one team must skip the first round - you could also give 3 byes in the first round, which will leave you with 13 teams in the second round, or 5 byes or any other odd number.’
  • ‘If the Scots do not win the regular season championship, finishing second is critical, as the top two seeds receive first round byes and semi-final home games.’
  • ‘And as usual, the main ‘race’ threw up a few appetisers, although the holders were one of the four first round byes.’
  • ‘All four teams have fresh legs, thanks to first-round byes followed by the pleasure of playing divisional playoff games at home.’
  • ‘The addition of two wild cards in each league would give the top two finishers first-round byes but make the tournament unwieldy.’
  • ‘As usual, the four teams who had byes played in the conference title games last year.’
  • ‘If a knock-out solution takes effect, nine teams would get byes through to the second round, where they would meet the winners of seven drawn ties to create a last 16.’
  • ‘Taking the money into account - as well as the prospect of eliminating byes altogether - a proposal to eventually put 16 teams into the playoffs is probably on the horizon.’
  • ‘If the league is going to add one team per conference, it might as well add two teams per conference and eliminate first-round byes altogether.’
  • ‘If the league had 16 playoff teams, byes would be eliminated, and that is very appealing to a cross-section of owners who believe byes give teams unfair advantages.’
  • ‘In my mind, the road team with the best chance to win is Green Bay, but historically, the week of rest has been a major advantage for teams with byes.’
  • ‘Some argue it would take away the huge advantage the top four seeds have from byes and home-field advantage.’
  • ‘Nevertheless, each rebounded to win their division and secure first-round byes.’
  • ‘In the absence of leading seeds with first-round byes, lesser contenders took center stage on opening day.’
  • ‘The top six teams in the field were given byes into the quarter-finals while the bottom four teams must play seeding matches to move on.’
  • ‘The increase to 16 means the end of first-round byes.’
  • ‘With that, college hockey was finally rid of its 12-team format, which awarded byes to the top four teams and a tremendous advantage.’

  Synonyms

  goodbye, farewell

• 2Golf
  One or more holes remaining unplayed after a match has been decided.

exclamation