Meaning & use
rival
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Meanings
nouncountable
A person, team or company that competes against another for the same prize, position or customers.
Grammar: Often followed by for: a rival for the title; it can also work as a modifier: a rival team.
Patterns
- a rival for something
- a bitter rival
- a rival to someone
The two bakeries have been rivals for decades.
She beat her old rival in the final.
A rival firm offered him a better contract.
verbtransitive
To be as good as or nearly as good as someone or something else.
Grammar: Takes an object; usually in negatives or with few things: nothing rivals this view.
Patterns
- rival someone in something
- rival something for something
Few cities rival Paris for beauty.
Her cooking could rival any professional chef's.
The new phone rivals the leading brand in battery life.
adjectivebefore a noun
Competing with another for the same goal or market.
Grammar: Comes before a noun: rival gangs, a rival bid.
Patterns
- a rival something
Rival fans gathered outside the stadium.
A rival bid forced the price up.
The two rival companies finally merged.
Word forms
| plural | rivals |
|---|---|
| third person singular | rivals |
| past tense | rivaled |
| past participle | rivaled |
| -ing form | rivaling |
Common combinations
- bitter rival
- Their bitter rival won the league last year.
- arch-rival
- The two schools are arch-rivals on the football field.
- serious rival
- The startup emerged as a serious rival to the market leader.
- rival for the title
- He was her closest rival for the title.
- rival claim
- A rival claim to the land delayed the project.
Synonyms and how they differ
- competitor
- Competitor is neutral and describes anyone taking part in a contest, but rival often suggests personal opposition.
- opponent
- Opponent is the person you play or fight against in a specific contest, whereas a rival can last over a long time.
- adversary
- Adversary is more formal and implies real hostility, going beyond the competition suggested by rival.
- match
- As a verb, match means to equal, but it lacks the sense of competition that rival carries.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: rival or rifle? rival or revival?
rival vs rifle
Rifle is a gun and also a verb meaning to search roughly through something; it sounds a little like rival but means something quite different.
rival vs revival
A revival is a return to popularity or life, not competition.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'rival' as a verb?
Choose one answer.
In the third option 'rival' is a verb meaning to be as good as. The first is a noun, the second an adjective, and the fourth uses rivalry.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “rival”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.