compete
Americanverb (used without object)
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competes,
present (3rd person singular)
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competed,
past participle, past
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competing
present participle
idioms
verb
Synonym Usage
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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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competesimple
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competessimple
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have competedperfect
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has competedperfect
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am competingprogressive
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are competingprogressive
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is competingprogressive
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have been competingperfect progressive
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has been competingperfect progressive
Past
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competedsimple
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had competedperfect
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was competingprogressive
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were competingprogressive
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had been competingperfect progressive
Future
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”; see com-. The Late Latin and English senses were influenced by competitor
Explanation
In sports you compete against the opposing team. At work you compete for a promotion. With siblings, you compete for everything. Compete means to vie for a goal. The urge to compete is universal and human, from kids who say "Race ya!," to great athletes who manage to achieve the impossible when faced with a worthy opponent. Some people are more inclined to compete than others. They are viewed as competitive and may be accused of turning everything into a competition.
Vocabulary lists containing compete
"Play Ball!"
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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.
See Examples For:
"It's really important young people come into the labour market being able to compete for these jobs."
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Upstart shops are leveraging their ties to their limited partners, including family offices, to compete.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Dolly’s final public appearance came in June when, true to her entrepreneurial form, she appeared at the opening of Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stop, a Southern-friend truck stop designed to compete with the popular chain Buc-ee’s.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
“I can compete with an AI without any problem making images,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
I’d told her I wanted to compete when we watched it together, and she said we could talk about it when I was old enough.
From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks
The U.S. competes at a disadvantage because it has no federal film and TV incentives, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
Now, 14 years after London 2012, Ngake will make a remarkable return to a major multi-sport event when she competes at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games for her adopted nation, England.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
Claude competes with OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, and customers pay based on the amount of work performed, measured in units called tokens.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
China’s rapid advances in AI has been spurred in part by Beijing’s efforts to become self-sufficient as it competes for technological supremacy against the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
At night, every living thing competes for a chance to be heard.
From "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson
They competed against four other pairs of contestants racing from Mexico City down to Ushuaia in Argentina.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Drivers completed two practice sessions early Saturday to learn the course for the first time and competed for pole position in the afternoon during qualifying laps.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Six weeks later, with his parents supporting him, Mark competed in the British Championships, winning five gold medals and setting five new British records.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Early in the pandemic, as mortgage rates plunged, lenders competed for business by easing underwriting standards.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
The scent of “thunderstorm at the beach” competed with “rose garden” and “early morning café.”
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
China has long dispatched coast guard and research ships around the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in the hotly contested South China Sea, where Beijing and several littoral countries have competing claims.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
But the company wants to create a level playing field in the industry so that teens don’t migrate to competing apps.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Marmoush found himself competing for minutes in a side built around Haaland, while City further strengthened their attacking options.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
On the one hand, the move is transparently self-interested: “Meta plainly did not want to be the only platform competing with one hand tied behind its back,” Engstrom said.
From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026
Individuals within a species are constantly competing for scarce resources.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
