rival

1. 1.

   be equal to in quality or ability

   “Nothing can rival cotton for durability”

   “Your performance doesn't even touch that of your colleagues”

   “Her persistence and ambition only matches that of her parents”

   Synonymsequaltouchmatch

   Broadercompete
2. 2.

   be the rival of, be in competition with

   “we are rivaling for first place in the race”

   Broadercompete

   Narroweroutrival

1. 1.

   the contestant you hope to defeat

   “he had respect for his rivals”

   “he wanted to know what the competition was doing”

   Synonymschallengercompetitorcompetitioncontender

   Broadercontestant

   Narrowerchampioncomerfinalistfoefront-runnerkingrunner-upscratchsemifinaliststreet fighter

Other forms of rival

plural

rivals·

past tense or participle

rivalled

present participle

rivalling

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about rival

What does rival mean?

rival means "be equal to in quality or ability". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in rival?

rival has 2 syllables: ri-val. The stress falls on "ri". In IPA it is /ˈɹaɪvəl/.

What is another word for rival?

Close synonyms include equal, touch, match, challenger, competitor. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is rival a common word?

rival is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.