Word family noun competition competitor competitiveness adjective competitive ≠ uncompetitive competing verb compete adverb competitively
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcompetitorcom‧pet‧i‧tor /kəmˈpetɪtə $ -ər/ ●●○ noun [countable] 1 COMPETE WITH/TRY TO BEATa person, team, company etc that is competing with another Last year they sold twice as many computers as their competitors.major/main competitors The company’s four major competitors have nothing to rival the new product.2 COMPETITIONsomeone who takes part in a competition Two of the competitors failed to turn up for the race.COLLOCATIONSadjectivesa major competitorJapan soon became a major competitor in the electronics industry.somebody's main/chief competitorThe company's main competitor is Vodafone.somebody's closest competitor (also somebody's nearest competitor British English) (=someone's main competitor)He had five times as many votes as his nearest competitor.somebody's biggest competitor (=someone's main competitor, especially in business)The company's biggest competitor is in financial trouble.foreign/European/international etc competitorsAmerica's electronics industry is keen to fight off foreign competitors.a direct competitor (=competing directly with you)He knew she was a successful businesswoman and a direct competitor.a strong/serious competitorIn the global economy, China is emerging as a strong competitor.a fierce competitor (=very strong)He had prepared his daughter to be a fierce competitor.a potential competitor (=a person, company etc that might compete with you)A merger would also remove a potential competitor in the market. Examples from the Corpus
competitor• All competitors in Phoenix, public and private, were using trucks that held 25 cubic yards of garbage.• On the other hand, coworkers can also be competitors.• But the company sees state regulatory rules shaping up unfavorably for it, as a would-be competitor for residential customers.• The airline had withstood the predatory pricing moves of its competitors, and overcome its early loss.• Their major competitors are IBM and Sun Microsystems.• The nearest competitor service was transport information and reservations, at 53%.• If we're going to succeed, we'll have to provide something that our competitors don't.• We are not prepared for it, whereas our competitors are.• Twenty-seven competitors from around the country will take part in Sunday's monster truck rally.• One of the competitors hurt her leg during the race.• Two of the competitors failed to show up for the race.• The competitors in the 100m sprint are being asked to take their places at the start.• The competitors tonight come from all over the world.• Each of these competitors has their eye on the £50,000 prize money.major/main competitors• But Britain still has a huge gap to close on her major competitors.• It will now be using the services of Askews, formerly one of its main competitors.• Some of our major competitors actually forecast that they will exceed bar sales by the early 1990s.• How does the level of investment in this country compare with that of our major competitors?• The increase in manufacturing unit wage costs is at its lowest level since 1989 and is increasingly in line with Britain's main competitors.• Exports have increased by 66 percent since 1981, better than any of our six main competitors, it points out.• This led them into feeling that airlines and motor car manufacturers were their main competitors since they took passengers away.• The spearhead of their sales drive was cooking and water heating, in which their major competitors were the gas boards.From Longman Business Dictionarycompetitorcom‧pet‧i‧tor /kəmˈpetətə-ər/ noun [countable]COMMERCE a person, product, company, country etc that is competing with anotherpeople who have tried our product or its direct competitorBritain has had higher long-term interest rates than most of its major competitors. 