competitive
adjective
com·pet·i·tive
kəm-ˈpe-tə-tiv 
1
: relating to, characterized by, or based on competition
competitive sports
a competitive marketplace
2
: inclined, desiring, or suited to compete
a competitive personality
competitive interest rates
3
: depending for effectiveness on the relative concentration of two or more substances
competitive inhibition of an enzyme
competitively
adverb
competitiveness
noun
Examples of competitive in a Sentence
She is a very competitive player.
You need a degree to be competitive in today's job market.
Recent Examples on the Web
West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey is preparing for his team of lawyers to make their argument in front of the top court, a case defending the state's Save Women's Sports Act, which prohibits those who were assigned male at birth from playing on competitive female sports teams.
—
Lauren Linder, CBS News, 9 Jan. 2026
Arkansas is home to more than 280,000 small businesses, alongside national and regional employers that operate in an intensely competitive environment.
—Arkansas Online, 9 Jan. 2026
Flywing also plans to expand the competitive side of the platform.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 9 Jan. 2026
In an increasingly competitive streaming market, platforms are seeing the benefits of aggregation, creating business models that look a lot like old school cable bundling.
—Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 8 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for competitive
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Lauren Linder, CBS News, 9 Jan. 2026
Arkansas is home to more than 280,000 small businesses, alongside national and regional employers that operate in an intensely competitive environment.
—Arkansas Online, 9 Jan. 2026
Flywing also plans to expand the competitive side of the platform.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 9 Jan. 2026
In an increasingly competitive streaming market, platforms are seeing the benefits of aggregation, creating business models that look a lot like old school cable bundling.
—Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 8 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for competitive
Cite this Entry
“Competitive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/competitive. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
competitive
adjective
com·pet·i·tive
kəm-ˈpet-ət-iv
: relating to, characterized by, or based on competition
competitive sports
competitive bidding
competitively
adverb
competitiveness
noun
Medical Definition
competitive
adjective
com·pet·i·tive
kəm-ˈpet-ət-iv
: depending for effectiveness on the relative concentration of two or more substances
competitive inhibition of an enzyme
competitive protein binding
competitively
adverb
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