competition Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a business relation in which two parties compete to gain customers
    • business competition can be fiendish at times
  2. noun an occasion on which a winner is selected from among two or more contestants
    contest.
  3. noun the act of competing as for profit or a prize
    rivalry; contention.
    • the teams were in fierce contention for first place
  4. noun the contestant you hope to defeat
    rival; contender; competitor; challenger.
    • he had respect for his rivals
    • he wanted to know what the competition was doing

WordNet

Com`pe*ti"tion noun
Etymology
L. competitio. See Conpete.
Definitions
  1. The act of seeking, or endevearing to gain, what another is endeavoring to gain at the same time; common strife for the same objects; strife for superiority; emulous contest; rivalry, as for approbation, for a prize, or as where two or more persons are engaged in the same business and each seeking patronage; -- followed by for before the object sought, and with before the person or thing competed with.
    Competition to the crown there is none, nor can be. Bacon.
    A portrait, with which one of Titian's could not come in competititon. Dryden.
    There is no competition but for the second place. Dryden.
    Where competition does not act at all there is complete monopoly. A. T. Hadley.
    Syn. -- Emulation; rivalry; rivalship; contest; struggle; contention; opposition; jealousy. See Emulation.

Webster 1913