compete
/kəmˈpiːt/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
South Asia/kəmˈpiʈ/
compete verb: to be in battle or in a rivalry with another for the same thing, position, or reward; to contend.

Verb
compete (third-person singular simple present competes, present participle competing, simple past and past participle competed)
- To be in battle or in a rivalry with another for the same thing, position, or reward; to contend.
- Negga, who was born in Ethiopia but grew up in Limerick, already has a clutch of Best Actress nominations under her belt for Loving but this is the most high profile to date. She's won rave reviews for her performance since the movie's premiere at Cannes in May, where it competed for the Palme d'Or.2016 December 13, “Golden Globes going green again to honour Irish talent”, in RTE
- "No. But one, or both of those men, may prove to be worse. That second man was Addison Berg, and he's agent for a firm of submarine boat builders who are rivals of dad's. Berg has been trying to find out why we abandoned our intention of competing for the Government prize."1910, Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat, page 70
- To be in a position in which it is possible to win or triumph.
- Now, when it comes to meeting the larger challenges we face as a nation, I realize that finding this unity is easier said than done – especially in Washington. But if we want to compete on the world stage as well as we’ve competed in the world’s games, we need to find common ground.2010, Barack Obama, Presidential Weekly Address (27 February 2010)
- To take part in a contest, game or similar event.
- To strive to achieve or obtain something which another also strives for, whether knowingly or unknowingly.
compete meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
compete in Hindi
- प्रतिस्पर्धा करें, प्रतिस्पर्धा करना
compete in Tamil
- பங்கு கொள், போட்டியிடு
compete in Marathi
- स्पर्धा करणे
compete in Urdu
- مقابلہ کرنا, مقابلہ کریں
More languagesFewer languages
- compete in Bengali
- জুঝা, টক্কর দেওয়া, পাল্লা দেওয়া, ক্রীড়া করা
- compete in Telugu
- పోటీ పడటానికి
- compete in Malayalam
- മത്സരിയ്ക്കുക matsariykkuka
- compete in Kannada
- ಸೆಣಸು, ಹೊಣರು, ಹುರುಡಿಸು, ಹುರುಡುಕಟ್ಟು
- compete in Punjabi
- ਮੁਕਾਬਲਾ ਕਰੋ, ਮੁਕਾਬਲਾ ਕਰਨਾ
- compete in Gujarati
- સ્પર્ધા કરો, સ્પર્ધા કરવી, સ્પર્ધા કરવા
- compete in Odia
- ପ୍ରତିଦ୍ୱନ୍ଦ୍ୱିତା କରନ୍ତୁ, ପ୍ରତିଦ୍ୱନ୍ଦ୍ୱିତା କରିବା
- compete in Sanskrit
- स्पर्धते spardhate
- compete in Arabic
- تَنَافَسَ tanāfasa, تَبَارَى tabārā
- compete in Malay
- bertanding
- compete in Thai
- แข่ง kɛ̀ng, แข่งขัน kɛ̀ng-kǎn
Examples of compete in a sentence
- The teams competed to see who could collect (the) most money.
- You have to be very quick to be able to compete in ad-lib theatrics.
- Railroads can only compete fully if their tracks are technically compatible with and linked to each other.
Antonyms of compete
Forms of compete
| third-person singular present | competes |
|---|---|
| present participle | competing |
| past participle | competed |
| past | competed |
Origin of compete
Borrowed from Middle French competer, from Latin competere (“to coincide, to be equal to, to be capable of”), from com- (“with”) + petō (“to seek; to aim for, strive for”). Compare Latin competītor (“competitor”).
Words formed from compete
Words that rhyme with compete
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- entreat
- fleet
- retreat
- treat
- complete
- conceit
- repeat
- concrete
- discrete
- bittersweet
- suite
- cheat
- cleat
- deceit
- greet
- unseat
- defeat
- delete
- effete
- elite
- escheat
- indiscrete
- leet
- pleat
- skeet
- sleet
- accrete
- beet
- bleat
- gleet
- ifrit
- incomplete
- overeat
- overheat
- petite
- replete
- superheat
- teat
- tweet
- wheat
- yeet
- Bereshit
- Bow Street
- Crete
- discreet
- downbeat
- jeet
- keet
Questions about compete
- What does compete mean?
- Compete means to be in battle or in a rivalry with another for the same thing, position, or reward; to contend.
- What is compete in Hindi?
- Compete in Hindi is प्रतिस्पर्धा करें, प्रतिस्पर्धा करना. See Compete meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is compete?
- Compete is a verb.
- How do you pronounce compete?
- Compete is pronounced /kəmˈpiːt/.
- What is the past tense of compete?
- The past tense of compete is competed.
Words near compete in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: compete (page history and authors); compete (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); compete (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); compete (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); compete (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); compete (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); compete (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); compete (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); compete (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); compete (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); compete (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-compete.wav.
Cite this entry: “compete.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/compete. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
