compete

[kuh m-peet] /kəmˈpit/

verb (used without object), competed, competing.

to strive to outdo another for acknowledgment, a prize, supremacy, profit, etc.; engage in a contest; vie:

to compete in a race; to compete in business.

Origin

1610-20; < Latin competere to meet, coincide, be fitting, suffice (Late Latin: seek, ask for), equivalent to com- com- + petere to seek; Late Latin and E sense influenced by competitor

Related forms

competer, noun

competingly, adverb

noncompeting, adjective

outcompete, verb (used with object), outcompeted, outcompeting.

Synonyms

struggle. Compete, contend, contest mean to strive to outdo or excel. Compete implies having a sense of rivalry and of striving to do one's best as well as to outdo another: to compete for a prize. Contend suggests opposition or disputing as well as rivalry: to contend with an opponent, against obstacles. Contest suggests struggling to gain or hold something, as well as contending or disputing: to contest a position or ground (in battle ); to contest a decision.

Examples from the web for compete

Students compete in a calculus contest to win a gift certificate at the college bookstore.
In this round, a further seven universities will also have a chance to compete for strategy funding.
Of course, that means that males compete with males for mating opportunities, and females compete with females.
Ask them what characteristics animals have developed to maximize their potential to successfully compete in an ecosystem.
They compete with one another for limited resources: brain time or bandwidth.
No one expects able-bodied runners to compete head-to-head with wheelchair-bound marathoners.
Candidates must also have a record of securing or the potential to compete for extramural funding.
For a two-week span, athletes from dozens of countries compete against each other in scores of different sports.
Instead groups of neurons compete to represent a concept, until one emerges dominant.
For sheer drama, few plants can compete with spring-blooming bulbs.

British Dictionary definitions for compete

compete

/kəmˈpiːt/

verb

(intransitive) often foll by with. to contend (against) for profit, an award, athletic supremacy, etc; engage in a contest (with)

Word Origin

C17: from Late Latin competere to strive together, from Latin: to meet, come together, agree, from com- together + petere to seek

Word Origin and History for compete

1610s, " to enter or be put in rivalry with," from Middle French compéter "be in rivalry with" (14c.), or directly from Late Latin competere "strive in common," in classical Latin "to come together, agree, to be qualified," later, "strive together," from com- "together" (see com-) + petere "to strive, seek, fall upon, rush at, attack" (see petition (n.)).

Rare 17c., revived from late 18c. in sense "to strive (alongside another) for the attainment of something" and regarded early 19c. in Britain as a Scottish or American word. Market sense is from 1840s (perhaps a back-formation from competition); athletics sense attested by 1857. Related: Competed; competing.