Rival vs Adversarial - What's the difference?

As adjectives the difference between rival and adversarial

is that rival is having the same pretensions or claims; standing in competition for superiority while adversarial is characteristic of, or in the manner of, an adversary; combative, hostile, opposed.

As a noun 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 a verb rival

is to oppose or compete with.

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

* ----

adversarial

English

Adjective

(en adjective)

Characteristic of, or in the manner of, an adversary; combative, hostile, opposed

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=November 7, author=Matt Bai, title=Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds, work=New York Times citation

, passage=In polling by the Pew Research Center in November 2008, fully half the respondents thought the two parties would cooperate more in the coming year, versus only 36 percent who thought the climate would grow more adversarial . }}

Antonyms

* cooperative

Derived terms

* adversarial system * adversarially