- One who attempts to equal or surpass another, or who pursues the same object as another; a competitor.
- One that equals or almost equals another in a particular respect.
- Obsolete. A companion or an associate in a particular duty.
v., -valed, or -valled, -val·ing, or -val·ling, -vals, or -vals. v.tr.
- To attempt to equal or surpass.
- 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).
To be a competitor or rival; compete.
[Latin rīvālis, one using the same stream as another, a rival, from rīvus, stream.]
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.
