Basic Details
Word: Competitor
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A person, team or company that is trying to win or to do better than others in a contest or in business.
Synonyms: rival, contestant, opponent, challenger
Antonyms: ally, partner, teammate
How to Spell Competitor
Syllables: com - pet - i - tor
Tricky part: Compete loses its final e and becomes compet- before -itor. The ending is -or, not -er, and the vowel after the t is i.
Watch out for: competiter, compititor, competetor
Memory tip: Read it as com-pet-it-or: a pet, then it, then the -or of actor.
Usage Examples
Example 1: Each competitor in the elocution contest had three minutes to speak.
Example 2: The two biscuit companies are fierce competitors.
Example 3: Our school's best competitor in the long jump cleared five metres.
Fun Fact
The first modern Olympic Games, held in Athens in 1896, had only about 240 competitors, all of them men.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word competitor as used in the sentence:
In the chess final, Ananya shook hands with her competitor before the first move.
a) rival
b) challenger
c) ally
d) opponent
Show answer
c) ally. An ally is on your side; rival, opponent and challenger are all against you.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the meaning of the only correctly spelt word:
1. referree 2. champian 3. tournamant 4. competitor
a) a person or team trying to win a contest
b) a series of games to find the overall winner
c) an official who makes sure the rules of a game are followed
d) the winner of a competition
Show answer
a) a person or team trying to win a contest. Tournament ends in -ment, champion in -ion, and referee has a single r before its double e.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
competittor
a) e
b) o
c) i
d) t
Show answer
d) t. Compete has one t, and competitor adds -itor, so its two t's always have an i between them and never sit side by side.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which word comes from the same verb as competitor?
a) compute
b) compost
c) competition
d) complete
Show answer
c) competition
2. A company's competitors are the other companies that ____.
a) print its advertisements
b) own its shares
c) sell similar products to the same buyers
d) supply it with raw materials
Show answer
c) sell similar products to the same buyers
