Definition of Rival

1. Noun. The contestant you hope to defeat. "He wanted to know what the competition was doing"


2. Verb. Be equal to in quality or ability. "Her persistence and ambition only matches that of her parents"
Exact synonyms: Equal, Match, Touch
Related verbs: Equal, Equalise, Equalize, Equate, Match
Generic synonyms: Compete, Contend, Vie
Derivative terms: Equal, Match

3. Verb. Be the rival of, be in competition with. "We are rivaling for first place in the race"
Generic synonyms: Compete, Contend, Vie
Specialized synonyms: Outrival, Outvie
Derivative terms: Rivalry

Definition of Rival

1. n. A person having a common right or privilege with another; a partner.

2. a. Having the same pretensions or claims; standing in competition for superiority; as, rival lovers; rival claims or pretensions.

3. v. t. To stand in competition with; to strive to gain some object in opposition to; as, to rival one in love.

4. v. i. To be in rivalry.

Definition of Rival

1. Noun. A competitor (person, team, company, etc.) who is well known to another and has similar skills and achievements. Defeating a rival may be a primary or necessary goal of a competitor. ¹

2. Noun. Someone or something with similar claims of quality or distinction as another. ¹

3. Verb. (transitive) To oppose or compete with. ¹

4. Verb. To equal to or surpass another. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Rival

1. to strive to equal or surpass [v -VALED, -VALING, -VALS or -VALLED, -VALLING, -VALS]

Medical Definition of Rival

1. 1. A person having a common right or privilege with another; a partner. "If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste." (Shak) 2. One who is in pursuit of the same object as another; one striving to reach or obtain something which another is attempting to obtain, and which one only can posses; a competitor; as, rivals in love; rivals for a crown. "Rivals, in the primary sense of the word, are those who dwell on the banks of the same stream. But since, as all experience shows, there is no such fruitful source of coutention as a water right, it would continually happen that these occupants of the opposite banks would be at strife with one another in regard of the periods during which they severally had a right to the use of the stream . . . And thus 'rivals' . . . Came to be used of any who were on any grounds in more or less unfriendly competition with one another." Synonym: Competitor, emulator, antagonist. Origin: F. Rival (cf. It. Rivale), L. Rivales two neigbors having the same brook in common, rivals, fr. Rivalis belonging to a brook, fr. Rivus a brook. Cf. Rivulet, Rete. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Rival

ritz
ritzes
ritzier
ritziest
ritzily
ritziness
ritzinesses
ritzy
riuer
riuers
riv'n
riva
rivadavite
rivage
rivages
rival (current term)
rivaled
rivaless
rivalesses
rivaling
rivalise
rivalised
rivalises
rivalities
rivality
rivalize
rivalized
rivalizes
rivalled
rivalless

Literary usage of Rival

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. A Life of William Shakespeare by Sidney Lee (1898)
"... Barnes addressed in this earliest volume the rival, to the ' virtuous' Earl of Southampton he declared that his patron's eyes were 'the heavenly lamps ..."

2. A Life of William Shakespeare by Sidney Lee (1898)
"But Shakespeare's description of his rival's literary work fits far less ... Many critics argue that the numbing fear of his rival's genius and of its ..."

3. A Life of William Shakespeare by Sidney Lee (1898)
"But Shakespeare's description of his rival's literary work fits far less ... Many critics argue that the numbing fear of his rival's genius and of its ..."

4. Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Standard Work of Reference in Art, Literature (1907)
"For a brief period, therefore, there were to be seen three rival popes, ... The claims of the three rival popes were each in turn examined and pronounced ..."

5. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (1918)
"The attorney-generalship was given to Sir Edward Coke, who was repeatedly a rival and enemy of Bacon's in later years. After the accession of James I Bacon ..."

Other Resources:

Search for Rival on Dictionary.com!Search for Rival on Thesaurus.com!Search for Rival on Google!Search for Rival on Wikipedia!

Search