rival
part of speech
noun (a rival, rivals); verb (rival, rivals, rivalled/rivaled, rivalling/rivaling); adjective (rival teams)
meaning for a pupil
1) A person, team or business that competes with another for the same thing: The two schools are old rivals. tree →
2) (verb) To be as good as someone or something: Her cake rivals any shop's cake. tree →
3) (adjective) Competing: rival gangs, rival shops. tree →
sense in the lessons
In sport and stories rivals compete for a prize, a trophy or friendship. In business maths, rival shops offer different prices to compare. In science, animals are rivals for food and mates. Phrases: «arch-rival», «rival team», «without rival», «rival someone in something».
examples
- The two football teams are fierce rivals. tree →
- Our rival shop sells apples 5p cheaper. tree →
- Nothing can rival Grandma's apple pie. tree →
- The rival team scored 3 goals; we scored 4. tree →
- She beat her rival in the final race. tree →
- Batman's arch-rival is the Joker. tree →
- Male deer fight their rivals in autumn. tree →
- All the King’s unsuccessful rivals had gone home in despair. tree →
note
Countable: rivals. Past tense: rivalled (UK, Australia), rivaled (US). Noun: rivalry. A rival is an opponent, not necessarily an enemy.
In the corpora
- Mandrills have very long canine teeth, and a wide yawn shows them off as a warning to rivals.
- Male ring-tailed lemurs have stink fights, wiping scent onto their tails and waving them at rivals.
- Rivals in a game can become friends; shake hands whoever wins.
- Losing with good grace and learning from it helps you get better, and rivals can push you to improve.
- Being polite to a rival who wins, saying «well done», is a sign of strength, not weakness.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «rival» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.