Meaning & use
competition
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Meanings
nouncountable
An organized event in which people or teams try to win by being better than others.
Grammar: Takes an or plural: enter a competition.
Patterns
- enter a competition
- win a competition
- a competition for something
She won first prize in the baking competition.
The school held a poetry competition in spring.
Over a hundred runners entered the competition.
noununcountable
The situation in which people or businesses try to get something that others also want.
Grammar: Not used with a: there is fierce competition for jobs.
Patterns
- competition for something
- competition between people
- competition with someone
There is fierce competition for places at the university.
Competition between airlines keeps prices low.
Small shops struggle against competition from online sellers.
nounsingularbusiness
The rivals or opponents one is trying to beat, especially in business.
Grammar: Takes 'the' and can take a singular or plural verb.
Patterns
- beat the competition
- stay ahead of the competition
The new model puts our product ahead of the competition.
We need to know what the competition is charging.
They study the competition before every launch.
Word forms
| plural | competitions |
|---|
Common combinations
- fierce competition
- Fierce competition made winning difficult.
- enter a competition
- She entered the competition for the first time.
- win a competition
- He won the competition last year.
- healthy competition
- A little healthy competition can improve performance.
- stiff competition
- We face stiff competition from a larger firm.
- beat the competition
- Lower prices helped the shop beat the competition.
Synonyms and how they differ
- contest
- Contest is a specific event with winners, similar to the first sense, but can be smaller or more casual.
- rivalry
- Rivalry describes an ongoing feeling of opposition between two parties, not an event.
- tournament
- Tournament refers to a series of games leading to a winner, so it is narrower than competition.
- race
- Race implies speed or urgency, as in a race for the prize, while competition is broader.
Opposites
Word family
- compete verb
- to take part in a contest
- competitor noun
- someone who competes
- competitive adjective
- involving or liking competition
- competitively adverb
- in a way that involves competition
Commonly confused: competition or competence?
competition vs competence
Competence means the ability to do something well, while competition means a contest or rivalry.
Practice
There is fierce ___ for the few remaining tickets.
Choose one answer.
Competition means rivalry for a limited thing. Competence is ability, compensation is payment, and composition is a piece of writing.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “competition”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.