rivals 1 of 2

noun

plural of rival
1
as in counterparts
one that is equal to another in status, achievement, or value a design that is a rival to any produced by a professional graphic artist

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Relevance
2
as in opponents
one that takes a position opposite another in a competition or conflict the boxer's toughest rival thus far

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in competitors
one who strives for the same thing as another the four cities that are the top rivals for the site of the next Olympic Games

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

rivals

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of rival
as in competes
to engage in a contest two longtime friends who have rivaled for the same things at every stage of their lives

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of rivals
Noun
The South American rivals may just end up facing each other in a week. — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 4 July 2026 After six innings, the crowd of 38,872 watching two historic rivals sat through a 15-minute delay. — Patrick Mooney, New York Times, 5 July 2026 Also, consider the loss of neighborhood rivals Sacred Heart and Quinnipiac sure to pack the gym. — Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 28 June 2026 Queen Bey’s feminism would mature — on the occasion of her 25th birthday, specifics were mostly limited to paying one’s own way and doing one’s best to keep rivals out of chinchilla coats. — Spin Staff, SPIN, 4 July 2026 Competitions are familiar, and respectful engagement with rivals is familiar. — Deborah Mower, The Conversation, 2 July 2026 The Chinese challengers Seedance, Kling and Alibaba’s HappyHorse have rapidly closed the gap on cinematic realism and have upstaged their American rivals by undercutting them on cost. — Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2026 The club is one year into PSG Labs, 15 years into the broader brand project, and still operating in a country where broadcast television revenue—the financial backbone of English and Spanish football—is dramatically lower than its rivals. — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 28 June 2026 The country’s bitter local rivals, South Korea, can call upon players who are on the books at some of the world’s biggest clubs, including Paris Saint-Germain (Lee Kang-in) and Bayern Munich (Kim Min-jae), an option Japan currently doesn’t have. — Simon Chadwick, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026
Verb
But where menswear is concerned, nothing rivals the cult of the Belgian loafer. — Eric Twardzik, Robb Report, 6 July 2026 So even when Mars is near opposition and appears to glow many times brighter, Antares still rivals it at least in color. — Joe Rao, Space.com, 26 June 2026 Swift, whose net worth surpasses $2 billion, has amassed a fortune that rivals tech founders and venture capitalists. — Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 2 July 2026 Arhaus’ Fourth of July sale is your ticket to an exterior space that rivals your favorite celeb’s backyard. — Audrey Lee, Architectural Digest, 3 July 2026 The colors jump off the screen, the contrast cuts deep, and the brightness ties everything together to create a visual workstation that rivals even the most competitive laptops on the market. — Kelsey Fogarty, PC Magazine, 1 July 2026 The blister-proof ballet flats feature supple leather uppers, Ortholite insoles, and an especially versatile design that rivals pairs that cost over double the price. — Olivia Cigliano, InStyle, 30 June 2026 In recognition of his stellar service, Cech was allowed to leave Chelsea, signing for London rivals Arsenal in the summer of 2015. — Liam Twomey, New York Times, 25 June 2026 That means Google’s data center energy usage rivals the electricity consumption of entire countries such as New Zealand, Denmark, and Nigeria. — Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 2 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rivals
  1. counterparts
  2. opponents
  3. competitors
  4. competes
  5. equivalents
  6. foes
  7. contenders
  8. races
Noun
  • Members of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s NBA Summer League team got pummeled by their Memphis Grizzlies’ counterparts on Saturday evening, falling 111-74 in an opening game in Salt Lake City.
    — Latif Love, Kansas City Star, 5 July 2026
  • Like their counterparts in the founding generation, most 19th century reformers had their own prejudices and their own ideas about whose liberation mattered most.
    — Brian DeLay, Mercury News, 4 July 2026
Definition of counterparts
Noun
  • Other players have covered their mouths while speaking to opponents during the World Cup, but a red card is only issued if the conversation occurs during a confrontation or heated exchange.
    — Eduard Cauich, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2026
  • The side of the bracket where France sits includes some tough potential opponents.
    — Doha Madani, NBC news, 1 July 2026
Definition of opponents
Noun
  • Comcast faces competitors beyond traditional telecommunications firms, including AT&T and T-Mobile.
    — Meg James, Los Angeles Times, 2 July 2026
  • Cisco has built and is refining an AI tool for investor relations that analyzes its financial history alongside competitors’ earnings calls and can anticipate likely questions from specific analysts.
    — Sheryl Estrada, Fortune, 1 July 2026
Definition of competitors
Verb
  • According to Reuters, Gakpo was given time off to spend with his family, who are staying near the team base in Kansas City as the Netherlands competes in the World Cup.
    — Andrew Greif, NBC news, 30 June 2026
  • With a 6-foot-4, 235-pound frame, Palmquest also competes in shot put and threw 46 1/2 feet as a sophomore, taking first in Aledo’s district meet.
    — Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 29 June 2026
Definition of competes
Noun
  • Google describes the resulting deployment as about 50 server-equivalents worth of compute at a fraction of the usual cost.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 2 July 2026
  • Among them are selfie sticks (or equivalents), oversized hats, clothing bearing political statements and large flags.
    — Skyler Caruso, PEOPLE, 30 June 2026
Definition of equivalents
Noun
  • Unrestricted free agents Marcus Smart, 32, and Luke Kennard, 30, agreed to deals with Western Conference foes.
    — Broderick Turner, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2026
  • The 2018 runners-up and 2022 third-place finishers have three wins and a draw against African World Cup foes since 2014, including their third-place victory over Morocco.
    — NBC News, NBC news, 28 June 2026
Definition of foes
Noun
  • Such has been such a dramatic overhaul in the conference that the Heat at one moment can be viewed as contenders for the NBA Finals and at another the perception quite reasonably can be … right back in the play-in pool.
    — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 4 July 2026
  • Elsewhere, general classification contenders Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) all produced good performances to stay within 40 seconds of the leading pair.
    — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 4 July 2026
Definition of contenders
Verb
  • As is common with Enola Holmes films, zippy flashbacks and kicky montages illuminate what led up to all of this, but there’s an energy missing here, as the film races to get back into the present Maltese moment, which feels dire indeed.
    — Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 30 June 2026
  • Anthropic has accused the Chinese firm Alibaba of launching the largest attack yet attempting to clone Claude, as China races to match the capabilities of Anthropic’s leading model following Mythos’ release and subsequent restriction from foreign markets.
    — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 25 June 2026
Definition of races

Browse Nearby Words

rivalry
rivals
rive
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Cite this Entry

“Rivals.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rivals. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of rivals for Spanish Speakers

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