Phrase guide

competitive exclusion

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

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Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

The principle that states that two species who are very similar, and compete for the same resources, cannot coexist indefinitely, as the one with the slight advantage will outperform the other and eventually drive it into extinction.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: biology, natural-sciences

Examples

  • 2016, Kaj-Kolja Kleineberg & Marián Boguñá, Competition between global and local online social networks, Nature In ecology theory, the principle of competitive exclusion states that multiple species in competition for the same resource cannot coexist, as even the slightest advantage of one species over the other is successively amplified; a mechanism referred to as “rich get richer” or preferential attachment. This eventually leads to the extinction of the inferior species.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Coined by Russian biologist Georgy Gause.