Rival
/ˈɹaɪvəl/ adj, noun, verb
adj, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A competitor (person, team, company, etc.) with the same goal as another, or striving to attain the same thing. Defeating a rival may be a primary or necessary goal of a competitor.
"Chris is my biggest rival in the 400-metre race."
- 2 the contestant you hope to defeat wordnet
- 3 Someone or something with similar claims of quality or distinction as another.
"As a social historian, he has no rival."
- 4 One having a common right or privilege with another; a partner. obsolete
"If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, / The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste."
Verb
- 1 To oppose or compete with. transitive
"to rival somebody in love"
- 2 be the rival of, be in competition with wordnet
- 3 To be equal to, or match, or to surpass another.
"But the Waverley is still the best-placed station of any British city, and gives the arriving stranger a first impression rivalled in Europe only by the exclusively watery station approach at Venice."
- 4 be equal to in quality or ability wordnet
- 5 To strive to equal or excel; to emulate.
"to rival thunder in its rapid course"
Adjective
- 1 Having the same pretensions or claims; standing in competition for superiority. not-comparable
"rival lovers"
Adjective
- 1 as a rival in a competition wordnet
Example
More examples"We had been rival lovers at one time."
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin rīvālis (literally “person using the same stream as another”).