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rival

   Also found in: Medical, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.12 sec.
ri·val  (rvl)
n.
1. One who attempts to equal or surpass another, or who pursues the same object as another; a competitor.
2. One that equals or almost equals another in a particular respect.
3. Obsolete A companion or an associate in a particular duty.
v. ri·valed or ri·valled, ri·val·ing or ri·val·ling, ri·vals
v.tr.
1. To attempt to equal or surpass.
2. To be the equal of; match: "They achieved more than they had ever dreamed, lending a magic to their family story that no tale or ordinary life could possibly rival" Doris Kearns Goodwin.
v.intr.
To be a competitor or rival; compete.

[Latin rvlis, one using the same stream as another, a rival, from rvus, stream; see rei- in Indo-European roots.]
Synonyms: rival, compete, vie
These verbs mean to seek to equal or surpass another. Rival is the most general: "His ambition led him to rival the career of Edmund Burke" Henry Adams.
To compete is to contend with another or others to attain a goal, as a victory in a contest: Local hardware stores can't compete with discount outlets.
Vie, often interchangeable with compete, sometimes stresses the challenge implicit in rivalry: The top three students vied for the title of valedictorian.

rival
Noun
1. a person or group that competes with another for the same object or in the same field
2. a person or thing that is considered the equal of another: she is without rival in the field of physics
Adjective
in the position of a rival
Verb
[-valling, -valled] or US [-valing, -valed]
1. to be the equal or near equal of: his inarticulateness was rivalled only by that of his brother
2. to try to equal or surpass [Latin rivalis, literally: one who shares the same brook]
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.rivalrival - the contestant you hope to defeat; "he had respect for his rivals"; "he wanted to know what the competition was doing"
contestant - a person who participates in competitions
champ, champion, title-holder - someone who has won first place in a competition
comer - someone with a promising future
finalist - a contestant who reaches the final stages of a competition
foe, enemy - a personal enemy; "they had been political foes for years"
favourite, front-runner, favorite - a competitor thought likely to win
world-beater, king, queen - a competitor who holds a preeminent position
runner-up, second best - the competitor who finishes second
scratch - a competitor who has withdrawn from competition
semifinalist - one of four competitors remaining in a tournament by elimination
street fighter - a contestant who is very aggressive and willing to use underhand methods
tier - any one of two or more competitors who tie one another
tilter - someone who engages in a tilt or joust
Verb1.rivalrival - 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"
equalise, equalize, equate, equal, match - make equal, uniform, corresponding, or matching; "let's equalize the duties among all employees in this office"; "The company matched the discount policy of its competitors"
compete, vie, contend - compete for something; engage in a contest; measure oneself against others
2.rival - be the rival of, be in competition with; "we are rivaling for first place in the race"
compete, vie, contend - compete for something; engage in a contest; measure oneself against others
outrival, outvie - be more of a rival than

rival
verb 3. compete with, match, equal, oppose, compare with, contend, come up to, emulate, vie with, measure up to, be a match for, bear comparison with, seek to displace
Translations
Spanish rival [ˈraɪvl] nrival m/f;
(in business) → competidor(a) m/f
adjrival, opuesto
vtcompetir con

French rival [ˈraɪvl] nrival(e);
(in business) → concurrent(e)
vt (= match) → égaler (= compete with); être en concurrence avec;
to rival sb/sth in → rivaliser avec qn/qch de

German rival [ˈraɪvl] nRivale m, Rivalin f
adj (firm, newspaper etc) → Konkurrenz-;
(teams, groups etc) → rivalisierend
vt (match) → sich messen können mit;
to rival sth/sb in sth → sich mit etw/jdm in Bezug auf etw messen können

Italian rival [ˈraɪvl] nrivale m/f;
(in business) → concorrente m/f
adjrivale; che fa concorrenza
to rival sb/sth in → competere con qn/qc in

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Quitzel, so the story goes, wanted to be the chief god, and when the image of a rival was set up in the temple near him, he toppled over in anger, and part of the temple went with him, the whole place being buried in ruins.
This rival was a man of science, like Barbicane himself, of a fiery, daring, and violent disposition; a pure Yankee.
It ended in the ruin of most of the partners of the Northwest Company; and the merging of the relics of that establishment, in 1821, in the rival association.
 
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