rivalrous

[ rahy-vuhl-ruhs ]

adjective

1. characterized by rivalry; competitive:

   the rivalrous aspect of their friendship.

Other Words From

• rival·rous·ness noun
• un·rival·rous adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of rivalrous¹

First recorded in 1805–15; rivalr(y) + -ous

Example Sentences

Constricted pupils and licking lips also tend to accompany such rivalrous encounters.

From Science Magazine

The development has been jarring for a nation whose 1.4 billion people usually manage to get along despite belonging to thousands of sometimes rivalrous ethnic groups.

From New York Times

In 1990, Ms. Gilot, continuing to reflect on him, published “Matisse and Picasso: A Friendship in Art,” an account of the two artists’ rivalrous friendship that focused on the years in which she witnessed it.

From New York Times

But the broader fact of the matter was that this was a watershed event for women’s basketball, a burgeoning that was far more important than any rivalrous sniping on Twitter.

From Washington Post

They developed a rigidly vertical class-based society living in rivalrous city-states and led by rulers who sought guidance from, and closely identified with, a pantheon of nature-based deities.

From New York Times