rival

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹaɪvəl/

• 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”, in 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.

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 match, or to surpass another.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess‎:

     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

Anagrams

• Avril, arvil, viral

Adjective

rival (masculine and feminine plural rivals)

1. rival

Noun

rival m, f (plural rivals)

1. rival

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁi.val/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

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

1. rival (attributively)

Noun

rival m (plural rivaux, feminine rivale)

1. rival

Further reading

• “rival” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• avril, livra, viral

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ʀiˈvaːl]
• Hyphenation: ri‧val

Adjective

rival (not comparable)

1. (economics, of a good) rivalrous
   • 2012, Michael Goldhammer, Geistiges Eigentum und Eigentumstheorie, Mohr Siebeck, page 196:

     Als zweites Argument gegen die Möglichkeit von geistigem Eigentum wird häufig vorgebracht, dass immaterielle Güter ihrer Natur nach nicht rival seien […]

     As a second argument against the possibility of intellectual property, it is often brought forward that immaterial goods are not rivalrous by nature

Etymology

From Latin rivalis, via French rival

Noun

rival m (definite singular rivalen, indefinite plural rivaler, definite plural rivalene)

1. a rival

References

• “rival” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology

From Latin rivalis, via French rival

Noun

rival m (definite singular rivalen, indefinite plural rivalar, definite plural rivalane)

1. a rival

References

• “rival” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Noun

rival m, f (plural rivais)

1. rival (competitor with the same objective)

Adjective

rival m, f (plural rivais, comparable)

1. rival (standing in competition)

Pronunciation

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

Noun

rìvāl m (Cyrillic spelling рѝва̄л)

1. rival, adversary

Adjective

rival (plural rivales)

1. adverse, rival

Noun

rival m, f (plural rivales)

1. rival

Related terms

• rivalidad
• rivalizar

Etymology

From Latin rivalis, via French rival.

Noun

rival c

1. rival