Rivalrous

//ˈɹaɪvəlɹəs// adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Having a relationship of rivalry.

    "In “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” Mr. Lumet’s 45th film, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke play rivalrous brothers whose bungled robbery of their parents’ modest jewelry store in Westchester County begins a cycle of quasi-Greek family tragedy without a catharsis."

  2. 2
    Which can be consumed by no more than one person at the same time.

    "Rivalrous goods are those which can be consumed by only one person at the same time – for example, a candy bar or a suit; […]"

Adjective
  1. 1
    eager to surpass others wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
competitiveemulous

Example

More examples

"In “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” Mr. Lumet’s 45th film, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke play rivalrous brothers whose bungled robbery of their parents’ modest jewelry store in Westchester County begins a cycle of quasi-Greek family tragedy without a catharsis."

Etymology

From rivalry + -ous.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.