HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY
To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.
Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.
THE USAGE PANEL
The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP
The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG
The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.
INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?
Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com
n. 1. One who attempts to equal or surpass another, or who pursues the same object as another; a competitor. 2. One that equals or almost equals another in a particular respect: She is his rival in sarcasm. 3. Obsolete A companion or an associate in a particular duty. v. ri·valed, ri·val·ing, ri·vals or ri·valled or ri·val·ling v.tr. 1. To attempt to equal or surpass. 2. To be the equal of; match: "They achieved more than they had ever dreamed, lending a magic to their family story that no tale of ordinary life could possibly rival" (Doris Kearns Goodwin). v.intr. To be a competitor or rival; compete. [Latin rīvālis, one using the same stream as another, a rival, from rīvus, stream; see rei- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] Synonyms: rival, compete, vie These verbs mean to seek to equal or surpass another. Rival is the most general: "His ambition led him to rival the career of Edmund Burke" (Henry Adams). To compete is to contend with another or others to attain a goal, as a victory in a contest: Local hardware stores can't compete with discount outlets. Vie, often interchangeable with compete, sometimes stresses the challenge implicit in rivalry: The top three students vied for the title of valedictorian. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
