Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The art of outdoing or showing up a rival or competitor, as in exploits, privileges, or honors.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The attitude or practice of trying to keep one step ahead of a friend or competitor; vigorous competitiveness.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun idiomatic The art or practice of successively
outdoing a competitor. - noun idiomatic A succession of instances of outdoing a competitor.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the practice of keeping one jump ahead of a friend or competitor
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word one-upmanship.
Examples
-
All you hear from that side in these posts is a lot of immature high school football game one-upmanship rhetoric.
Obama: Iraqi celebrations a testament to U.S. commitment 2009
-
What is the deal with this one-upmanship (sp) thing going on between Dems and Reps?
-
Congressional Republicans should not try to outdo Mr. Obama in a game of unprincipled one-upmanship.
The GOP Plays Politics With the War Powers Resolution John Yoo 2011
-
All you hear from that side is a lot of immature high school football game one-upmanship rhetoric. will
Obama: Iraqi celebrations a testament to U.S. commitment 2009
-
Offense by proxy is a perverse form of holier-than-thou one-upmanship.
Purple Pain « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2009
-
Don't get me wrong, I love 'em to death, but the way they seem capable of turning any situation into a game of one-upmanship -- even with their closest buddies -- can be a pretty awesome spectacle.
Sundance: Bromance Blossoms In ‘Humpday’ — Watch An Exclusive Clip! » MTV Movies Blog 2009
-
Paired violinists Minna Kangas and Tuomo Suni took up the singer's motifs and traded them back and forth, often engaged in smiling one-upmanship while embellishing their lines.
Review: Helsinki Baroque Orchestra at Library of Congress Charles T. Downey 2010
-
Granted, MC is now a classic, but it's hardly one-upmanship if he has waited until the novel not only won the Booker, the Booker of Bookers 25, and the Booker of Bookers AGAIN to read it, now is it?!
From Cape Cod to Christmas Roger Sutton 2009
-
For the universities involved, these partnerships are not rooted in cloud one-upmanship, but in invaluable experience.
-
Stephen Potter, a British humorist who has undeservedly faded into obscurity, is the father of "one-upmanship," a strategem for besting an opponent—somewhat unfairly—without actually cheating.
Biz One-Upmanship 101 Con Chapman 2011
johnmperry commented on the word one-upmanship
Title of 1952 book by Stephen Potter (1900-1969)
July 24, 2008
dontcry commented on the word one-upmanship
I wrote an essay in college about one-upmanship. One of my favorite examples of it is if someone cuts you off in traffic and bothers to look for your reaction, give them a polite wave, or a thumbs up and a cheery smile. You're up!
July 24, 2008