Word.ws English Dictionary

competes

/kəmˈpiːts/

competes is the third-person singular simple present indicative of compete.

Meaning of compete

Verb

compete (third-person singular simple present competes, present participle competing, simple past and past participle competed)

  1. 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
  2. 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)
  3. To take part in a contest, game or similar event.
  4. To strive to achieve or obtain something which another also strives for, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

Words that rhyme with competes

7 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about competes

What is competes the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Competes is the third-person singular simple present indicative of compete.
How do you pronounce competes?
Competes is pronounced /kəmˈpiːts/.

Words near competes in the dictionary

  1. competencies
  2. competency
  3. competent
  4. competently
  5. competentness
  6. competes
  7. competeth
  8. competetive
  9. competetively
  10. competible
  11. competibleness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: competes (page history and authors); compete (page history and authors). 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.

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Cite this entry: “competes.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/competes. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.