competitive

[kuhm-pet-i-tiv]

adjective

1. of, pertaining to, involving, or decided by competition.

   competitive sports; a competitive examination.

2. well suited for competition; having a feature that makes for successful competition.

   a competitive price.

3. having a strong desire to compete or to succeed.

4. useful to a competitor; giving a competitor an advantage.

   He was careful not to divulge competitive information about his invention.

competitive

/ kəmˈpɛtɪtɪv /

adjective

1. involving or determined by rivalry

   competitive sports

2. sufficiently low in price or high in quality to be successful against commercial rivals

3. relating to or characterized by an urge to compete

   a competitive personality

Other Word Forms

• competitively adverb
• competitiveness noun
• anticompetitive adjective
• anticompetitively adverb
• anticompetitiveness noun
• noncompetitive adjective
• noncompetitively adverb
• noncompetitiveness noun
• overcompetitive adjective
• overcompetitively adverb
• overcompetitiveness noun
• pseudocompetitive adjective
• pseudocompetitively adverb
• quasi-competitive adjective
• quasi-competitively adverb
• supercompetitive adjective
• uncompetitive adjective
• uncompetitively adverb
• uncompetitiveness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of competitive¹

First recorded in 1820–30; from Latin competīt(us) (past participle of competere “to meet, coincide”; compete ) + -ive

Example Sentences

The higher limit is intended to protect the Premier League's competitive balance, given the increased income that will be received by those clubs competing in Europe.

Read more on BBC

But sports CMO is a competitive gig to get, and a demanding job to have.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

SpaceX’s lawyer sent a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton dated June 26, saying that publicly releasing the emails would hurt its competitive advantage.

Read more on Salon

Investors and home buyers and sellers should pay attention because the ultimate result of the case could have ripple effects on the housing market’s competitive landscape and the homebuying and selling experience.

Read more on Barron's

Over the past months, a slew of Chinese AI companies have rolled out competitive models that often cost less than leading American models, or are open-source for free use.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• aggressive 
• ambitious 
• competing www.thesaurus.com
• cutthroat 
• vying 

When To Use

What does competitive mean?

Competitive is most commonly used to describe a person who has a strong desire to compete and win.Competitive is commonly associated with sports, but it is used in many different contexts that involve competition. It is commonly used to describe someone or something that is able to succeed against or stay even with others in the same contest or setting, as in Our new product will help us stay competitive in this market.Example: Most pro athletes are competitive by nature and always want to win no matter what they’re playing—even if it’s something as simple as a game of cards.