Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To strive against another or others to attain a goal, such as an advantage or victory. synonym: rival.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To seek or strive for the same thing as another; enter into competition or rivalry; vie: with for before the thing sought and with before the person or thing rivaled.
  • In political economics, to engage in rivalry in the sale or purchase of a commodity or service; also, figuratively, of a commodity or service, to be open to choice as against some other commodity or service. Thus iron is said to compete with stone in the construction of buildings; water routes compete with railways in the handling of traffic.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To contend emulously; to seek or strive for the same thing, position, or reward for which another is striving; to contend in rivalry, as for a prize or in business.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To contend emulously; to seek or strive for the same thing, position, or reward for which another is striving; to contend in rivalry, as for a prize or in business; as, tradesmen compete with one another.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb compete for something; engage in a contest; measure oneself against others

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin competere, to strive together, from Latin, to coincide, be suitable : com-, com- + petere, to seek; see pet- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowed from Middle French competir or from its source Late Latin competere, present active infinitive of competō., from Latin com- ("with") + petō ("I seek, I aim for, I strive for").

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