RIVAL
rival, challenger, competitor, competition, contender
(noun) the contestant you hope to defeat; “he had respect for his rivals”; “he wanted to know what the competition was doing”
rival
(verb) be the rival of, be in competition with; “we are rivaling for first place in the race”
equal, touch, rival, match
(verb) be equal to in quality or ability; “Nothing can rival cotton for durability”; “Your performance doesn’t even touch that of your colleagues”; “Her persistence and ambition only matches that of her parents”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
rival (plural rivals)
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.
Someone or something with similar claims of quality or distinction as another.
(obsolete) One having a common right or privilege with another; a partner.
Adjective
rival (not comparable)
Having the same pretensions or claims; standing in competition for superiority.
Verb
rival (third-person singular simple present rivals, present participle rivaling or rivalling, simple past and past participle rivaled or rivalled)
(transitive) To oppose or compete with.
To be equal to, or match, or to surpass another.
To strive to equal or excel; to emulate.
Anagrams
• Avril, arvil, viral
Source: Wiktionary
Ri"val, n. Etym: [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.]
1. A person having a common right or privilege with another; a
partner. [Obs.]
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.
Note: "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." Trench.
Syn.
– Competitor; emulator; antagonist.
Ri"val, a.
Definition: Having the same pretensions or claims; standing in competition
for superiority; as, rival lovers; rival claims or pretensions.
The strenuous conflicts and alternate victories of two rival
confederacies of statesmen. Macaulay.
Ri"val, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rivaled or Rivalled; p. pr. & vb. n.
Rivaling or Rivalling.]
1. To stand in competition with; to strive to gain some object in
opposition to; as, to rival one in love.
2. To strive to equal or exel; to emulate.
To rival thunder in its rapid course. Dryden.
Ri"val, v. i.
Definition: To be in rivalry. [Obs.] Shak.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition