winner-take-all

See also: winner take all

English

winner-take-all (not comparable)

Of or pertaining to a contest, election, or other competition in which only the winner is rewarded and none of the losers receive anything.
- 1993 December 7, David Spanier, “Poker: Winner takes all”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 20 May 2014:
  You need luck in poker tournaments, because in the nature of this winner-take-all style of play, there will be several occasions when you cannot avoid putting all your money in the pot.
- 2000 January 3, Kathleen L. Barber, “Letters: Diversity on the Ballot”, in New York Times, retrieved 20 May 2014:
  Under winner-take-all elections, many minority candidates find it nearly impossible to win.
- 2012 March 13, Silas Lesnick, “Interview: The Hunger Games’ Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson”, in ComingSoon.net, retrieved 20 May 2014:
  [S]he volunteers to take her sister's place at the annual "Hunger Games", a bloody winner-take-all competition in which 24 teens fight to the death.
(economics) Of a market in which a product or service that is only slightly better than its competitors receives a disproportionately large share of revenue.
(computing) Of a neural network model: organized so that neurons in a layer compete with each other for activation.

pertaining to a contest in which only the winner is rewarded