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Enemy vs Rival - What's the difference?

enemy | rival |

As nouns the difference between enemy and rival

is that enemy is someone who is hostile to, feels hatred towards, opposes the interests of, or intends injury to someone else while rival is 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.

As adjectives the difference between enemy and rival

is that enemy is of, relating to, or belonging to an enemy while rival is having the same pretensions or claims; standing in competition for superiority.

As a verb rival is

to oppose or compete with.

enemy

English

Noun

(wikipedia enemy) (enemies)
  • Someone who is hostile to, feels hatred towards, opposes the interests of, or intends injury to someone else.
    • He made a lot of enemies after reducing the working hours in his department.
    Crush the enemy !
  • A hostile force or nation; a fighting member of such a force or nation.
    • rally together against a common enemy .
  • An alliance of such forces.
  • Something harmful or threatening to another
  • * '>citation
    • The very thing the 16 skiers and snowboarders had sought — fresh, soft snow — instantly became the enemy . Somewhere above, a pristine meadow cracked in the shape of a lightning bolt, slicing a slab nearly 200 feet across and 3 feet deep. Gravity did the rest.

    Synonyms

    * foe * unfriend * adversary * nemesis * backfriend

    Antonyms

    * ally * friend

    Derived terms

    {{der3, archenemy , enemydom , enemyful , enemyhood , enemyish , enemyless , enemylike , enemyness , enemyship , enemywise}}

    Related terms

    *

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • of, relating to, or belonging to an enemy

    • See also

    * nemesis

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * (l) 1000 English basic words ----

    rival

    English

    Noun

    (en 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.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
    • , volume=189, issue=2, page=27, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you
  • Someone or something with similar claims of quality or distinction as another.
  • (obsolete) One having a common right or privilege with another; a partner.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, / The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.

    Derived terms

    * rivalry * archrival

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Having the same pretensions or claims; standing in competition for superiority.
    • rival lovers; rival claims or pretensions
  • * Macaulay
    • The strenuous conflicts and alternate victories of two rival confederacies of statesmen.

    Verb

  • To oppose or compete with.
    • to rival somebody in love
  • To be equal to or to surpass another.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
    • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=1 citation , passage=The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, […].}}
  • To strive to equal or excel; to emulate.
  • * Dryden
    • to rival thunder in its rapid course

    Anagrams

    * ----