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rivalry - Word of the Day - Sun May 17, 2026


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rivalry - (n) - sustained competition between individuals or group

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Rivalry sharpened his focus but narrowed his empathy.

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Author tip: Rivalries thrive on proximity and history.
Genre tags: Drama, Sports, Fantasy

 

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drpaladin

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People are constantly distracted by one meaningless sports rivalry or another while the bigger games of state play out.

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Bill W

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The word rivalry stems from the Latin rivalis, meaning a neighbor or one who shares a river or stream.  Originally it translated as "one using the same brook."  The term transitioned from indicating friendly association to describing people competing for access to the same resources and causing the term to evolve from its original sense of "partner" into the modern concept of an adversary.   Rivalry first entered the English language in the late 1500s to describe individuals striving to gain what another was seeking.  : Formed in the 1590s by combining the noun rival with the suffix -ry (denoting a state or condition), cementing its modern meaning of active competition or strife. 

According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the noun rivalry was first used in English in the late 1500s.  The OED's earliest recorded evidence for the noun dates specifically to 1598, found in the writings of the Elizabethan poet and playwright John Marston.   Historically, older related forms like rivality also emerged in the early 1500s (found in translations by Sir Thomas Wyatt), but rivalry became the standard English term for competition or strife shortly before the turn of the 17th century.  The OED states that the first use of the noun rival was first used during the Middle English period (1150-1500), with the earliest documented evidence dating from before 1400 in the writings of the poet and historian Robert Mannyng.  

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