A bye in sports and other competitive activities can have two different meanings. Both mean that a participant in a competition is not required to compete while most of the other participants are. Its main use is in tournament competitions. In single-elimination tournaments, when there are an odd number of participants, a bye allows one or more to play in a later round. Other types of eliminator tournaments may also include a bye for others reasons. An example would be as a reward for the best ranked team(s).