How to use rival in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, adjective, verb

Rival means a competitor (person, team, company, etc.) with the same goal as another, or striving to attain the same thing. Defeating a rival may be a primary or necessary goal of a competitor. Example: “Chris is my biggest rival in the 400-metre race.”

Examples of rival by meaning

nounA competitor (person, team, company, etc.) with the same goal as another, or striving to attain the same thing....

Chris is my biggest rival in the 400-metre race.
But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27

nounSomeone or something with similar claims of quality or distinction as another.

As a social historian, he has no rival.

adjectiveHaving the same pretensions or claims; standing in competition for superiority.

rival claims or pretensions
Japan’s largest yakuza crime syndicate has pledged to end its longstanding war with a rival faction and refrain from causing “trouble,” authorities said, as the mafia-like groups contend with falling membership and increased police crackdowns.2025 April 11, Junko Ogura, Helen Regan, “Japan’s biggest Yakuza crime group pledges to end decade-long gang war”, in CNN, archived from...

verbTo oppose or compete with.

to rival somebody in love

verbTo be equal to, or match, or to surpass another.

But the Waverley is still the best-placed station of any British city, and gives the arriving stranger a first impression rivalled in Europe only by the exclusively watery station approach at Venice.1941 January, C. Hamilton Ellis, “The Scottish Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 1

More sentences with rival

The team had absolutely killed their traditional rivals, and the local sports bars were raucous with celebrations.From the entry kill
The actor's pride was wounded when the leading role went to his rival.From the entry wound
The senator asked the party chief to put the hard word on his potential rivals.From the entry hard
When the two rivals met, first there were sharp words, and then a fight broke out.From the entry sharp
The team snapped a 3-game skid with a win over their biggest rival.From the entry skid
Trifle is a favourite dessert of the English, but rivalled by pavlova in Australia and New Zealand.From the entry dessert
He founded a schism that eventually rivaled the original organization in size.From the entry schism
The rival contested the dictator's re-election because of claims of voting irregularities.From the entry contest
She was head and shoulders better than any of her rivals.From the entry head and shoulders
The team will face off against their intradivision rivals next week.From the entry intradivision
The sprinter outfinished all of his rivals and set a new world record.From the entry outfinish
The rival schoolboys traded insults and punches.From the entry trade
Mudchester Rovers opened a sizeable lead on their rivals.From the entry open
The kingdom fell into the hands of his rivals.From the entry fall
He set up his rival to take the fall.From the entry fall
He pointed accusingly at his rival during the debate.From the entry accusingly
The rival factions clapped up a truce.From the entry clap
The team were six points adrift of their rivals.From the entry adrift
The Board did not trust outside information about their rivals.From the entry outside
There was open animosity between the two rival teams.From the entry animosity
A schism broke the organization into two rivals.From the entry schism
The Winter Hill Gang was quite proficient at murdering rival mobsters in order to take over their rackets.From the entry gang
Her rival pursued a quite different course.From the entry pursue
The documentary effectively juxtaposes the lives of two rival politicians.From the entry juxtapose
He plotted to do away with his rival.From the entry do away with
Through subtle manipulations he orchestrated the downfall of his rival.From the entry manipulation
He displayed nobility of character when helping his rivals.From the entry nobility
We had a resounding win against the rival team.From the entry resounding
The football team beat our crosstown rivals last night.From the entry crosstown
The company acted anticompetitively by forcing its suppliers to agree not to work with any of its rivals.From the entry anticompetitively
The rival company's sales force is poaching on our turf.From the entry sales force
They went level with their rivals.From the entry go
The team had been tromped by their cross-town rivals, and the players were embarrassed to show their faces in school the next day.From the entry tromp

Meaning of rival

noun A competitor (person, team, company, etc.) with the same goal as another, or striving to attain the same thing. Defeating a rival may be a primary or necessary goal of a competitor.
noun Someone or something with similar claims of quality or distinction as another.
noun One having a common right or privilege with another; a partner.

Full definition of rival

Questions about rival in a sentence

How do you use rival in a sentence?: Rival is used as a noun, adjective and verb. For example: “Chris is my biggest rival in the 400-metre race.”
What is a short sentence with rival?: “rival claims or pretensions”
What does rival mean?: Rival means a competitor (person, team, company, etc.) with the same goal as another, or striving to attain the same thing. Defeating a rival may be a primary or necessary goal of a competitor.

Adapted from Wiktionary: rival (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use rival in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/rival. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.