Standard Lemma guide

competitor

noun · 4 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.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • kəm-pĕtʹ-ĭ-tər
  • /kəmˈpɛt.ɪ.tɚ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛtɪtə(ɹ)
  • CMU ARPABET: K AH0 M P EH1 T AH0 T ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: K AH0 M P EH1 T IH0 T ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A person or organization against whom one is competing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A participant in a competition, especially in athletics.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Partner, associate, one working with another toward a common goal.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the contestant you hope to defeat

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he had respect for his rivals
  • he wanted to know what the competition was doing

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: rival, challenger, competition, contender

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: contestant

Narrower terms: champion, champ, title-holder, comer, finalist, foe, enemy, front-runner, favorite, favourite, king, queen, world-beater, runner-up, second best, scratch, semifinalist, street fighter, tier, tilter

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French compétiteur, from Latin competitor.

Across languages

Translations

149 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Amharic: ተወዳዳሪ (täwädadari) — person against whom one is competing
  • Arabic: مُنَافِس (munāfis) — person against whom one is competing
  • Armenian: մրցակից (mrcʻakicʻ) — person against whom one is competing
  • Azerbaijani: rəqib — person against whom one is competing
  • Belarusian: канкурэ́нт (kankurént) — person against whom one is competing
  • Belarusian: канкурэ́нтка (kankuréntka) — person against whom one is competing
  • Belarusian: супе́рнік (supjérnik) — person against whom one is competing
  • Belarusian: супе́рніца (supjérnica) — person against whom one is competing
  • Belarusian: сапе́рнік (sapjérnik) — person against whom one is competing
  • Belarusian: сапе́рніца (sapjérnica) — person against whom one is competing
  • Bulgarian: конкуре́нт (konkurént) — person against whom one is competing
  • Bulgarian: конкуре́нтка (konkuréntka) — person against whom one is competing
  • Bulgarian: съпе́рник (sǎpérnik) — person against whom one is competing
  • Bulgarian: съпе́рница (sǎpérnica) — person against whom one is competing
  • Bulgarian: съпе́рничка (sǎpérnička) — person against whom one is competing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 競爭者 /竞争者 (jìngzhēng zhě) — person against whom one is competing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 比賽者 /比赛者 (bǐsài zhě) — person against whom one is competing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 競爭對手 /竞争对手 (jìngzhēng duìshǒu) — person against whom one is competing
  • Czech: konkurent — person against whom one is competing
  • Czech: závodník — person against whom one is competing
  • Czech: závodníce — person against whom one is competing
  • Danish: konkurrent — person against whom one is competing
  • Dutch: concurrent — person against whom one is competing
  • Dutch: concurent — person against whom one is competing
  • Esperanto: konkuranto — person against whom one is competing
  • Finnish: kilpailija — person against whom one is competing
  • French: compétiteur — person against whom one is competing
  • French: compétitrice — person against whom one is competing
  • French: concurrent — person against whom one is competing
  • French: concurrente — person against whom one is competing
  • Galician: competidor — person against whom one is competing
  • Georgian: კონკურენტი (ḳonḳurenṭi) — person against whom one is competing
  • Georgian: მეტოქე (meṭoke) — person against whom one is competing
  • Georgian: მოცილე (mocile) — person against whom one is competing
  • German: Konkurrent — person against whom one is competing
  • German: Konkurrentin — person against whom one is competing
  • Greek: ανταγωνιστής (antagonistís) — person against whom one is competing
  • Ancient Greek: ἀγωνιστής (agōnistḗs) — person against whom one is competing
  • Hebrew: מִתְחָרֶה (mitkhare) — person against whom one is competing
  • Hebrew: מתחרה (mitkhara) — person against whom one is competing
  • Hindi: प्रतियोगी (pratiyogī) — person against whom one is competing
  • Hindi: प्रतिस्पर्धी (pratispardhī) — person against whom one is competing
  • Icelandic: keppinautur — person against whom one is competing
  • Icelandic: samkeppnisaðili — person against whom one is competing
  • Indonesian: pesaing — person against whom one is competing
  • Indonesian: saingan — person against whom one is competing
  • Italian: avversario — person against whom one is competing
  • Italian: rivale — person against whom one is competing
  • Italian: competitore — person against whom one is competing
  • Italian: antagonista — person against whom one is competing
  • Japanese: 競争者 (kyōsōsha) — person against whom one is competing
  • Kazakh: бақас (baqas) — person against whom one is competing
  • Kazakh: бақталас (baqtalas) — person against whom one is competing
  • Kazakh: бәсекелес (bäsekeles) — person against whom one is competing
  • Korean: 경쟁자 (gyeongjaengja) — person against whom one is competing
  • Luhya: omushindani — person against whom one is competing
  • Macedonian: соперник (sopernik) — person against whom one is competing
  • Macedonian: соперничка (sopernička) — person against whom one is competing
  • Macedonian: конкурент (konkurent) — person against whom one is competing
  • Macedonian: конкурентка (konkurentka) — person against whom one is competing
  • Malayalam: എതിരാളി (etirāḷi) — person against whom one is competing
  • Māori: kaitauwhāinga — person against whom one is competing
  • Mongolian: өрсөлдөгч (örsöldögč) — person against whom one is competing
  • Mongolian: ᠥᠷᠢᠰᠦᠯᠳᠦᠭᠴᠢ (örisüldügči) — person against whom one is competing
  • Norman: compétiteu — person against whom one is competing
  • Norwegian Bokmål: konkurrent — person against whom one is competing
  • Persian: رقیب (raqib) — person against whom one is competing
  • Polish: konkurent — person against whom one is competing
  • Polish: konkurentka — person against whom one is competing
  • Polish: współzawodnik — person against whom one is competing
  • Polish: współzawodniczka — person against whom one is competing
  • Polish: rywal — person against whom one is competing
  • Polish: rywalka — person against whom one is competing
  • Portuguese: competidor — person against whom one is competing
  • Portuguese: adversário — person against whom one is competing
  • Portuguese: concorrente — person against whom one is competing
  • Romanian: competitor — person against whom one is competing
  • Romanian: competitoare — person against whom one is competing
  • Romanian: concurent — person against whom one is competing
  • Russian: конкуре́нт (konkurént) — person against whom one is competing
  • Russian: конкуре́нтка (konkuréntka) — person against whom one is competing
  • Russian: сопе́рник (sopérnik) — person against whom one is competing
  • Russian: сопе́рница (sopérnica) — person against whom one is competing
  • Scottish Gaelic: co-fharpaiseach — person against whom one is competing
  • Serbo-Croatian: suparnik — person against whom one is competing
  • Serbo-Croatian: konkurent — person against whom one is competing
  • Serbo-Croatian: rival — person against whom one is competing
  • Spanish: contrincante — person against whom one is competing
  • Swahili: mshindani — person against whom one is competing
  • Swedish: medtävlare — person against whom one is competing
  • Swedish: konkurrent — person against whom one is competing
  • Tagalog: katagis — person against whom one is competing
  • Tajik: рақиб (raqib) — person against whom one is competing
  • Turkish: rakip — person against whom one is competing
  • Ottoman Turkish: رقیب (rakib) — person against whom one is competing
  • Ukrainian: конкуре́нт (konkurént) — person against whom one is competing
  • Ukrainian: конкуре́нтка (konkuréntka) — person against whom one is competing
  • Ukrainian: супе́рник (supérnyk) — person against whom one is competing
  • Ukrainian: супе́рниця (supérnycja) — person against whom one is competing
  • Uzbek: raqib — person against whom one is competing
  • Vietnamese: đối thủ — person against whom one is competing
  • Welsh: cystadleuwr — person against whom one is competing
  • Welsh: ymrysonwr — person against whom one is competing
  • Amharic: ተወዳዳሪ (täwädadari) — participant in a competition
  • Armenian: մրցակից (mrcʻakicʻ) — participant in a competition
  • Bulgarian: състеза́тел (sǎstezátel) — participant in a competition
  • Bulgarian: състезателка (sǎstezatelka) — participant in a competition
  • Chinese Mandarin: 選手 /选手 (xuǎnshǒu) — participant in a competition
  • Czech: soutěžící — participant in a competition
  • Finnish: kilpailija — participant in a competition
  • Georgian: კონკურენტი (ḳonḳurenṭi) — participant in a competition
  • Georgian: მეტოქე (meṭoke) — participant in a competition
  • Georgian: მოწინააღმდეგე (moc̣inaaɣmdege) — participant in a competition
  • German: Wettkämpfer — participant in a competition
  • German: Wettbewerbsteilnehmer — participant in a competition
  • Ancient Greek: ἀγωνιστής (agōnistḗs) — participant in a competition
  • Hebrew: מִתְחָרֶה (mitkhare) — participant in a competition
  • Hebrew: מתחרה (mitkhara) — participant in a competition
  • Hindi: प्रतिस्पर्धी (pratispardhī) — participant in a competition
  • Hungarian: versenyző — participant in a competition
  • Icelandic: keppandi — participant in a competition
  • Irish: iomaitheoir — participant in a competition
  • Italian: concorrente — participant in a competition
  • Macedonian: натпреварувач (natprevaruvač) — participant in a competition
  • Malayalam: മത്സരാർത്ഥി (matsarāṟtthi) — participant in a competition
  • Māori: kaiwhakataetae — participant in a competition
  • Mongolian: өрсөлдөгч (örsöldögč) — participant in a competition
  • Mongolian: ᠥᠷᠢᠰᠦᠯᠳᠦᠭᠴᠢ (örisüldügči) — participant in a competition
  • Polish: zawodnik — participant in a competition
  • Polish: zawodniczka — participant in a competition
  • Portuguese: competidor — participant in a competition
  • Portuguese: concorrente — participant in a competition
  • Romanian: competitor — participant in a competition
  • Romanian: concurent — participant in a competition
  • Romanian: concurentă — participant in a competition
  • Russian: сопе́рник (sopérnik) — participant in a competition
  • Russian: сопе́рница (sopérnica) — participant in a competition
  • Scottish Gaelic: co-fharpaiseach — participant in a competition
  • Serbo-Croatian: suparnik — participant in a competition
  • Serbo-Croatian: konkurent — participant in a competition
  • Serbo-Croatian: rival — participant in a competition
  • Spanish: competidor — participant in a competition
  • Swedish: medtävlare — participant in a competition
  • Swedish: konkurrent — participant in a competition
  • Swedish: tävlare — participant in a competition
  • Turkish: rakip — participant in a competition
  • Ottoman Turkish: رقیب (rakib) — participant in a competition
  • Welsh: cystadleuwr — participant in a competition
  • Welsh: ymrysonwr — participant in a competition
Real reading context

competitor in complete knowledge articles