compete

American

[kuhm-peet] / kəmˈpit /

verb (used without object)

competed, competing

to strive to outdo another for acknowledgment, a prize, supremacy, profit, etc.; engage in a contest; vie: to compete in business.

to compete in a race;
to compete in business.

Synonyms:

struggle

idioms

cannot/can't compete with, to not be, by a great degree, as good or capable as (someone or something else).

These roses are lovely, but they can’t compete with the ones we grew back home in Ecuador.

compete British

/ kəmˈpiːt /

verb

to contend (against) for profit, an award, athletic supremacy, etc; engage in a contest (with)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Related Words

Compete, contend, contest mean to strive to outdo or excel. Compete implies having a sense of rivalry and of striving to do one's best as well as to outdo another: to compete for a prize. Contend suggests opposition or disputing as well as rivalry: to contend with an opponent, against obstacles. Contest suggests struggling to gain or hold something, as well as contending or disputing: to contest a position or ground ( in battle ); to contest a decision.

Other Word Forms

competer noun
competingly adverb
noncompeting adjective
outcompete verb (used with object)

Etymology

Origin of compete

First recorded in 1610–20; from Latin competere “to meet, coincide, be fitting, suffice” ( Late Latin: “to seek, ask for”), equivalent to com- “with, together” + petere “to seek”; com-. The Late Latin and English senses were influenced by competitor

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

That has left millions of people in the US, like Gonzalez, paying for them on their own and pushed pharmaceutical firms to seek and compete for customers like a regular retailer.

From BBC

This was the final international podium missing from Hodgkinson's extensive list of honours, after various injuries prevented her from competing at each of the past three world indoors.

From BBC

To get a good deal, all you have to do is take one number and compete it against another number and keep doing that until you’re at the lowest number.

From The Wall Street Journal

Caudery had competed just twice on her return from injury this year, with a season's best of 4.70m earlier in March.

From BBC

Certain chip types, like so-called memory semiconductors, are caught in a supply crunch, given the voracious demand for them from companies competing to develop AI.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023