rivalry
noun
Simple meaning
An ongoing relationship between rivals who compete for superiority.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ryvuhlreeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹaɪvəlɹi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An ongoing relationship between (usually two) rivals who compete for superiority.
Any competition between two or more things or factors.
economics
The characteristic of being a rivalrous good, such that it can be consumed or used by only one person at a time.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An ongoing relationship between (usually two) rivals who compete for superiority.
Used this way, rivalry is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in relationships contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Relationships
Nearby words
- contention , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Other combinations
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What Does It Mean Here?
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.