competition

American  

[kom-pi-tish-uhn] / ˌkɒm pɪˈtɪʃ ən /

noun

• competitions
  plural

1. 

   the act of competing; rivalry for supremacy, a prize, etc..

   The competition between the two teams was bitter.

   Synonyms:

   emulation

2. a contest for some prize, honor, or advantage.

   Both girls entered the competition.

   Synonyms:

   struggle

3. the rivalry offered by a competitor.

   The small merchant gets powerful competition from the chain stores.

4. a competitor or competitors.

   What is your competition offering?

5. Sociology. rivalry between two or more persons or groups for an object desired in common, usually resulting in a victor and a loser but not necessarily involving the destruction of the latter.

6. Ecology. the struggle among organisms, both of the same and of different species, for food, space, and other vital requirements.

---

competition British  

/ ˌkɒmpɪˈtɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of competing; rivalry

2. a contest in which a winner is selected from among two or more entrants

3. a series of games, sports events, etc

4. the opposition offered by a competitor or competitors

5. a competitor or competitors offering opposition

6. ecology the struggle between individuals of the same or different species for food, space, light, etc, when these are inadequate to supply the needs of all

---

competition Scientific  

/ kŏm′pĭ-tĭsh′ən /

1. The simultaneous demand by two or more organisms for limited environmental resources, such as nutrients, living space, or light.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• supercompetition
  noun
• noncompetition
  adjective
• procompetition
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• competitions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of competition

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Late Latin competītiōn-, stem of competītiō “agreement, rivalry,” from competīt(us) “agreed, met” (past participle of competere “to agree, come together, meet”; see compete ( def. )) + -iō -ion; sense influenced by competitor

Explanation

If you are trying to win or attempting to prove you're the best, you're in a competition. The word also describes your opponent in sports, business, and politics. If you're trying to beat out someone else — whether in the Olympics or a pie-baking contest — it's a competition, and the other contestants are called the competition too. If you describe something as a "friendly competition," you're saying the outcome isn't critical, or there's no money involved. If you do something impressive in order to win, people will say competition brings out the best in you. If you try to injure your opponent, they'll say it brings out the worst.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

competition competitions

Among those objecting to the bill were banking groups, who argued that allowing digital tokens to pay out interest-like rewards would present unacceptable competition to regional lenders.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Hyrox co-founder Moritz Fürste posted a statement Sunday on Instagram apologizing for “the recent events in China” and indicating that the competition has taken unspecified steps to prevent another such occurrence.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

Additionally, the team said Palantir has “a very strong demand backdrop for its AI and automation software,” and faces little competition there from other AI and software providers.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

Dr Greg Brown, astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said the entries from the 18th year of the competition demonstrated "skill and innovation" coupled with improvements in technology.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

In the late 1980s, during the Chess Bundesliga competition in Germany, Boris Spassky had met a young woman named Petra Stadler.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Other brands have their own flavors of hybrid competitions, like TRX Ignite Games and Spartan’s Deka.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Their 11-year-old daughter’s schedule is a crazy quilt of dance classes and competitions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Sometimes referred to as prize draws or pay-to-enter competitions, these enterprises work by selling a set number of entries to a draw, often for a cash prize.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

She led an apparently comfortable life, residing with her parents and pursuing show-horse competitions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

She had left the “scary, screechy” phase of violin playing shortly after that first year, and had even won a couple of violin competitions recently.

From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser

Related Words

• championship
• clash
• event
• fight
• game
• match
• meeting
• race
• rivalry
• sport
• struggle
• tournament
• trial