competitor

noun

com·​pet·​i·​tor kəm-ˈpe-tə-tər 

: one that competes: such as

a

: rival

a fierce competitor on the soccer field

b

: one selling or buying goods or services in the same market as another

offering lower prices than our competitors

c

: an organism that lives in competition with another

The squid population increased dramatically when food competitors were depleted by heavy overfishing.

Synonyms of competitor

• contestant
• contender
• rival
• challenger

Examples of competitor in a Sentence

We offer better rates than our competitors.

There were more than 500 competitors in the race.

Recent Examples on the Web

The competitors often get the chance to spotlight their creativity with a dealer’s choice cocktail. —Lisa Shames, Chicago Tribune, 24 Feb. 2026

Buyers of the top trim, which is just about $30,000, will find leather seating, something most of Honda’s competitors don’t offer. —Scotty Reiss, Parents, 24 Feb. 2026

Today, sumo’s most anomalous competitors are white wrestlers like Aonishiki, a blue-eyed twenty-one-year-old rikishi from Ukraine. —Joshua Hunt, Harpers Magazine, 24 Feb. 2026

While Anthropic and OpenAI have seen their valuations soar in the past year, investors covering industries ranging from logistics and trucking to legal services are waking up to the fact that traditional barriers to entry for competitors might soon be dissolved by AI’s coding power. —Jared Perlo, NBC news, 24 Feb. 2026

Word History

Etymology

see competition

First Known Use

1534, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

competitor

noun

com·​pet·​i·​tor kəm-ˈpet-ət-ər 

: one that competes especially in the selling of goods or services : rival