rival

English

Etymology

From Latin rīvālis, literally ‘person using the same stream as another’, from rīvus (“small stream, brook”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈraɪvəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪvəl

Noun

rival (plural rivals)

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.
   • 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27: 

     The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you […] "share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.

   Chris is my biggest rival in the 400-metre race.

2. Someone or something with similar claims of quality or distinction as another.

   As a social historian, he has no rival.

3. (obsolete) One having a common right or privilege with another; a partner.
   • William Shakespeare

     If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, / The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.

Derived terms

• rivalry
• archrival

Translations

competitor with the same objective

• Bulgarian: съперник (bg) m (sǎpérnik), съперница f (sǎpérnica), противник (bg) m (protívnik), противница f (protívnica)
• Catalan: rival (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 對手, 对手 (zh) (duìshǒu), 敵手, 敌手 (zh) (díshǒu)

• Czech: soupeř (cs) m, sok (cs) m, rival m
• Dutch: tegenstander (nl), rivaal (nl), concurent, vijand (nl)
• Esperanto: rivalo
• Finnish: kilpailija (fi)
• French: rival (fr) m
• Georgian: მეტოქე (metok’e), რაყიფი (raqip’i) (archaic)
• German: Gegner (de) m, Rivale (de) m, Konkurrent (de) m

• Greek: ανταγωνιστής (el) m (antagonistís), αντίπαλος (el) m (antípalos)

  Ancient: ἀγωνιστής m (agōnistēs)

• Hungarian: rivális (hu), vetélytárs (hu)
• Indonesian: lawan (id), penentang (id), musun
• Italian: rivale (it) m, competitore, antagonista (it) m, avversario (it)
• Japanese: ライバル (raibaru), 敵 (ja) (てき, teki, かたき, kataki)
• Portuguese: rival (pt) m, f, adversário (pt) m, competidor (pt) m
• Romanian: rival (ro)
• Russian: соперник (ru) m (sopérnik), соперница (ru) f (sopérnica), противник (ru) m (protívnik), противница (ru) f (protívnica), (in business) конкурент (ru) m (konkurént), конкурентка (ru) f (konkuréntka)
• Turkish: rakip (tr)

someone or something with similar claims of quality or distinction as another

• Catalan: rival (ca)
• Greek: αντίπαλος (el) m (antípalos), ανταγωνιστής (el) m (antagonistís)
• Italian: rivale (it) m, pari m, avversario (it)

• Portuguese: rival (pt) m, f
• Russian: равный (ru) m (rávnyj)
• Turkish: eş (tr), denk (tr), benzer (tr), rakip (tr), emsal (tr)

Adjective

rival (not comparable)

1. Having the same pretensions or claims; standing in competition for superiority.

   rival lovers; rival claims or pretensions

   • Macaulay

     The strenuous conflicts and alternate victories of two rival confederacies of statesmen.

Verb

rival (third-person singular simple present rivals, present participle rivalling or rivaling, simple past and past participle rivalled or rivaled)

1. (transitive) To oppose or compete with.

   to rival somebody in love

2. To be equal to or to surpass another.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, The China Governess^[1]:

     The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, […].

3. To strive to equal or excel; to emulate.
   • Dryden

     to rival thunder in its rapid course

Translations

to oppose or compete with

• Finnish: kilpailla (fi)
• French: rivaliser (fr)
• Greek: ανταγωνίζομαι (el) (antagonízomai), παραβγαίνω (el) (paravgaíno)

• Hungarian: rivalizál, verseng (hu)
• Italian: rivaleggiare, competere
• Maori: taumāhekeheke
• Russian: соперничать (ru) (sopérničat'), конкурировать (ru) (konkurírovat')

Anagrams

• Avril, viral

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French

Etymology

From Latin, see above

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁival/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

rival m (feminine rivale, masculine plural rivaux, feminine plural rivales)

1. rival (attributively)

Noun

rival m (plural rivaux, feminine rivale)

1. rival

Anagrams

• avril, livra, viral

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Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rǐʋaːl/
• Hyphenation: ri‧val

Noun

rìvāl m (Cyrillic spelling рѝва̄л)

1. adverse, rival

Declension

    declension of rival

	singular	plural
nominative	rìvāl	rivali
genitive	rivála	riválā
dative	rivalu	rivalima
accusative	rivala	rivale
vocative	rivale	rivali
locative	rivalu	rivalima
instrumental	rivalom	rivalima

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Spanish

Adjective

rival m, f (plural rivales)

1. adverse, rival

Noun

rival m, f (plural rivales)

1. rival

Synonyms

• adversario
• antagonista
• competidor
• contrario
• oponente

Related terms

• rivalidad
• rivalizar