Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
competitive
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a competitive edge (=something that makes a person or business able to compete successfully against other people or businesses)
▪ He believes investment in new technology is the only way for the company to maintain its competitive edge.
a competitive environment
▪ Our business has to operate in an increasingly competitive environment.
competitive instinct (=an instinct to compete against others and try to win)
▪ He now channels his competitive instincts into his job.
competitive sport(s) (=in which people compete and try to win)
▪ Competitive sport teaches valuable lessons which last for life.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
as
▪ Naturally, it is always our aim to keep our premium rates as competitive as possible.
▪ Manufacturers will perceive natural biological processes as competitive and inspirational, and this will drive manufactured processes toward biological-type solutions.
▪ Finally, then, let us consider the stereotype of women as co-operative and men as competitive.
▪ But golfers are as competitive as athletes in other sports.
▪ Further, some one as competitive as Master James in as many fields puts additional strains on himself, particularly on his joints.
▪ If alcohol misuse affects your business, it could mean that you aren't as competitive as you might be.
▪ Fazisi was not as competitive, maybe due to the Soviet crew not being used to such advanced technology.
fiercely
▪ Watch out for a fiercely competitive range of unmetered access plans that include telephone charges.
▪ Before Alan, it was just the two of them sparring over terms, a competition between two fiercely competitive players.
▪ What about fiercely competitive schools which encourage academic self-assertion?
▪ In my heart I was fiercely competitive: I wanted to be the very best at anything I cared about.
▪ They are often fiercely competitive, and have a vested interest in establishing a reputation for reliability to both employees and employers.
▪ Rivals also seem to be smarting from a fiercely competitive Christmas.
▪ The Bank has to butter up both investors and intermediaries because it is in a fiercely competitive international market.
▪ Our country is engaged in a pitched battle in a fiercely competitive commercial world.
highly
▪ He guided her through a leading fashion school and she established herself in a highly competitive industry.
▪ But consumers have a highly competitive marketplace on their side.
▪ Other Areas are in the throes of heavy training schedules and will create a highly competitive spirit in Portlaoise.
▪ Other highly competitive companies are now moving in the same direction.
▪ A.R. Getting into drama school is highly competitive and requires an audition and interview.
▪ Not only may cooperation be discouraged, but most classrooms are highly competitive and individual effort is rewarded highly.
▪ Sport at the University of Ulster is available at all levels from recreational to highly competitive.
▪ The aviation world today is highly competitive.
imperfectly
▪ When an industry is imperfectly competitive we say that each firm in the industry enjoys a degree of monopoly power.
▪ The reason is that the distribution of imperfectly competitive firms across countries can now shift to accommodate differences in factor endowments.
▪ Second, what is the effect of having imperfectly competitive permit markets?
▪ What is more likely is some increase in competition within an imperfectly competitive market.
▪ This chapter analyses government policy towards private sector firms that are necessarily imperfectly competitive.
increasingly
▪ Training for partners and staff is necessary and costly although important in an increasingly competitive market.
▪ Warner Digital Studios is one of a handful of studio in-house operations that have entered the increasingly competitive visual effects business.
▪ The continuity of such investment is key to the generation of consistently improving operating results in increasingly competitive markets.
▪ Finally, it is essential to develop more cost-effective rockets in an increasingly competitive international market for commercial and scientific launch services.
▪ In an increasingly competitive market, there is evidence of quantitative and qualitative success.
▪ Conditions of service are attractive and increasingly competitive.
▪ They were, however, undergoing significant change in response to an increasingly competitive and volatile business environment.
intensely
▪ A case involving the intensely competitive newspaper industry demonstrates what may happen.
▪ All season these Bruins have been intensely competitive and highly vulnerable.
▪ He is intensely competitive, she is not.
less
▪ For the present, what is needed most is more cooperative work, and less competitive philosophising.
▪ For example, regulation may bring benefits in terms of consumer protection but add costs by making firms less competitive.
▪ A lower dollar also makes their products more expensive and less competitive abroad.
▪ In a free market, polluting coal-fired power stations and unpopular nuclear ones should be less competitive because of rising environmental costs.
▪ Increasing wages soas to give greater net disposable income increases costs on the international market and makes our goods less competitive.
▪ Those that start off high can become less competitive over time.
▪ Slightly less competitive than a Hillman Hunter and a good deal less reliable it has yet to race.
more
▪ The economy is now both more open and more competitive.
▪ Far more than the usual call for school reform to produce more competitive workers in the global economy.
▪ Certainly both the chassis and V6 engine have known more competitive days.
▪ Computer networking companies have been consolidating rapidly as the industry becomes more competitive and demand for products increases.
▪ The mortgage market has become a more competitive arena in the years since the early 1980s.
most
▪ However, they normally obtained the most competitive prices through cooperatives and the volume of business through them was very large.
▪ There are Green candidates in only five of the 22 most competitive districts.
▪ The most competitive firms providing the best service at the lowest price are the ones which should prosper.
▪ Physical education classes were difficult at times, for Sean performed poorly in most competitive games.
▪ It is also rated the most competitive newly-industrialised economy by the World Competitiveness Report.
▪ Bulk-buying has made the supermarket the most competitive in its field.
▪ Until the autumn he was paddling about twice a week and most competitive activity has been running and squash rather than paddling.
▪ They are hard-won credentials that show outstanding strengths in some of the most competitive business sectors in the world.
perfectly
▪ In a perfectly competitive industry, the market solves two connected problems.
▪ And a difference between price and marginal cost can make behavior very different from that in a perfectly competitive model.
▪ Unfortunately from this point of view not all industries are perfectly competitive.
▪ Our concern in this chapter is with the functioning of perfectly competitive markets.
▪ In practice, the conditions for perfectly competitive labour and product markets do not apply.
▪ Suppose that the union lifts the level of wages above the perfectly competitive market clearing wage, thus creating some unemployment.
▪ Each market is a free, unregulated market and is perfectly competitive.
▪ The neo-classical view is that a perfectly competitive economy always tends towards its full employment equilibrium position.
very
▪ This is largely because of faster construction and very competitive pricing which have made contractors more vulnerable to the financial effects of disruption.
▪ Forest trees live in a very competitive environment, unlike your garden.
▪ Ordinarily, I don't feel that me and my friends are very competitive.
▪ Although they are at dramatically different stages of deployment, they are expected to be very competitive.
▪ Although the overall price is very competitive, a home system should be better geared for games.
▪ We did, and we were very competitive after that.
▪ Premium rises had been achieved in some areas, but other sectors had been very competitive.
■ NOUN
advantage
▪ The e-university must be clear on its values and the source of its competitive advantage.
▪ The main competitive advantage of the firm is the relatively low cost of the labor force both for production and design.
▪ These linkages provided a source of new competitive advantage for the entire corporate system and threatened the foundations of powerful national firms.
▪ Aiding the domestic industry to gain or maintain international competitive advantage has never been an explicit expectation.
▪ These will ultimately result in competitive advantage.
▪ They seek short-term competitive advantage even when it leads to long-term suicide.
▪ The result is an unfair competitive advantage.
▪ Communications among individuals are often blocked legally by governments and illegally by enterprises to protect competitive advantages.
bid
▪ Moreover, departmental rivalries are endemic in the style of central government whereby competitive bids are made for limited financial resources.
▪ A top prison official ordered the contract approved without competitive bids and went to work for VitaPro several months later.
▪ A Court Scheme is not a practical option where one or more competitive bids may be made.
▪ Virginia -- $ 119. 4 million of Series 1996 general obligation refunding bonds, via competitive bid.
▪ Thursday San Antonio -- $ 51 million of Series 1996 securities, via competitive bid.
▪ Typically, public agencies have to secure competitive bids for any procurement contract over a set amount-say, $ 5, 000.
▪ There was -- Diamond interests received a 25-year extension on the contract to manage Old Tucson, without a competitive bid.
▪ The government last August said it was axing the contract because it was too expensive and was awarded without competitive bids.
bidding
▪ No prices are written down and there is no competitive bidding.
▪ The agreement was cancelled because it should have been put out to competitive bidding.
▪ Its new approach of competitive bidding has already galvanized towns and cities into bringing forward imaginative proposals for regeneration.
▪ We will continue to extend City Challenge and allocate a greater proportion of resources by competitive bidding.
▪ But there is scope for competitive bidding in less ambitious projects.
▪ New York publishers echo accusations of a conflict of interest in the choice of Knopf without prior competitive bidding.
business
▪ In this highly competitive business, cost control is a major aspect of good management.
▪ But they are in a competitive business, under pressure from executive producers, sales managers, and sponsors to draw audiences.
▪ Male speaker It's a very competitive business.
▪ A Fortune 500 company in a notoriously competitive business sponsoring a workshop on fatherhood?
▪ Which, in turn, means we're able to offer our customers extremely competitive business rates.
▪ Maintaining order and routine within a minimally competitive business environment made for successful enterprises.
▪ They are hard-won credentials that show outstanding strengths in some of the most competitive business sectors in the world.
disadvantage
▪ The extent of the company's competitive disadvantage was revealed by internal and external benchmarking against sectoral best practice.
▪ These out-lets thus found themselves in a position of total competitive disadvantage.
▪ If they do so, however, this would put their own nationals at a competitive disadvantage.
▪ Students might also argue that this would put banks at a competitive disadvantage relative to other financial firms. 5.
▪ Banks from both countries were able to lend at low margins, placing rivals at a competitive disadvantage.
▪ Reserve requirements on banks will have to be standardized if some banks are not to suffer a competitive disadvantage. 3.
▪ There's no competitive disadvantage for them in the Intel decision.
economy
▪ We must ensure that our students leave school functionally literate for a complex competitive economy. 2.
▪ Collectively taking care of our elderly provides a sense of community in our otherwise competitive economy.
▪ The policy has already paid handsome economic dividends: low inflation and a competitive economy.
▪ The neo-classical view is that a perfectly competitive economy always tends towards its full employment equilibrium position.
edge
▪ Mr Coleridge inherits a market that has made some sensible moves to improve its competitive edge.
▪ They would dilute the quality of his product, blunting a competitive edge.
▪ The research starts from the assumption that it is a product's competitive edge rather than its design perse that determines its performance.
▪ They achieve the competitive edge because everyone is helping to achieve it.
▪ It is also the sort of competitive edge that wins customers - and makes competitors uncomfortable.
▪ Great training for life in the U. S. Gives you that competitive edge.
▪ Runners are more conservative, instead of their heads they look to their shoes to give them the competitive edge.
▪ We have lost our competitive edge.
environment
▪ Today's anglers are fishing in a much more competitive environment than the greats of the past.
▪ Forest trees live in a very competitive environment, unlike your garden.
▪ It is good for staff, who can give of their best in a more competitive environment.
▪ High slack systems are those organizations operating with an abundance of resources in reasonably stable and minimally competitive environments.
▪ Guinness operates in a changing, dynamic and competitive environment.
▪ As noted earlier, public organizations in competitive environments often perform just as well as private organizations.
▪ In a competitive environment, Bristol is already well-positioned to attract new investment funds.
▪ Whatever the reason, the plethora of choices has increased the brutally competitive environment for fast-food restaurants in the past year.
equilibrium
▪ Since no Pareto gain is possible, the initial position - competitive equilibrium in both markets - is Pareto-efficient.
▪ First, they ensure that the initial position of competitive equilibrium is indeed an equilibrium.
▪ But in competitive equilibrium prices are performing a second role.
▪ We have now discovered that a competitive equilibrium in all markets would generate one particular Pareto-efficient allocation.
▪ For a competitive equilibrium, this line must be tangent to the individual's indifference curve.
▪ But there are many more allocations that are inefficient. 5 Under strict conditions, competitive equilibrium is Pareto-efficient.
industry
▪ In a perfectly competitive industry, the market solves two connected problems.
▪ He guided her through a leading fashion school and she established herself in a highly competitive industry.
▪ In a strongly competitive industry, high levels of skill and technology brought success for over half a century.
▪ That is the quantity of extra resources that a competitive industry would use because it has higher average and marginal costs.
▪ Imperfectly competitive industries are a source of market failure because free market equilibrium is no longer Pareto-efficient.
market
▪ Independent survival is achieved in the financial markets through success in competitive markets.
▪ Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to accelerate the transition of telephone and video services from regulated to competitive markets.
▪ Due to the competitive market in which we operate, this accreditation is very important.
▪ There, the first step was to abolish the agency, with the expectation that competitive markets would then develop.
▪ Suppose that the union lifts the level of wages above the perfectly competitive market clearing wage, thus creating some unemployment.
▪ The competitive market system also gives us a norm, or standard, against which the real-world economy can be compared.
▪ It is claimed that economic power is constrained by the competitive market.
▪ Hence, the equilibrium output in a competitive market is also identified as the optimal output.
nature
▪ Thirdly, the competitive nature of capitalism means that only the largest and most wealthy companies will survive and prosper.
▪ Chances are the competitive nature of state legislative elections will increase also.
▪ I also happen to possess a hugely competitive nature, especially when it comes to sport.
position
▪ It believes that this has added greatly to its competitive position in the market.
▪ Even putting up a sign with your company name will be wasted-if it is not the correct competitive position for the market.
▪ We have the ability to make additional capital investments to build on our strong competitive position.
pressure
▪ Unless the slope of the baseline drift is very steep the decline has few practical consequences except to sharpen competitive pressures.
▪ We live in a global marketplace, which puts enormous competitive pressure on our economic institutions.
▪ The competitive pressures we saw in 1992 as a result of the continuing over capacity in our industry will remain.
▪ After years of expansion, it is coming under competitive pressure to reduce costs.
▪ However, many regional brewers are now coming under increasing competitive pressure.
▪ Low inflation, competitive pressure and a continued focus on fiscal austerity depress projected raises, Hewitt says.
▪ I have discussed international competition, but of course there are also competitive pressures within the national economy.
▪ For the first time in 1993, the RBOCs confronted increasing competitive pressures in certain local services they had monopolized for decades.
price
▪ Call for first class cover at a really competitive price.
▪ Closing: I am sending along some paper samples as well as our competitive price sheet.
▪ It's well put together and retails at a competitive price for a four season bag.
▪ Advantages: Low overheads, so likely to offer competitive prices.
▪ However, they normally obtained the most competitive prices through cooperatives and the volume of business through them was very large.
▪ The Langstrasse is renowned for variety and competitive prices.
▪ From a busy garden centre, the company supplies roses, shrubs, trees and bedding plants, all at competitive prices.
process
▪ Similarly, it seeks to discover how efficient the competitive process is in weeding out relatively inefficient firms.
▪ However, I argued that we should not suppose that the essentially competitive process he proposed implies a competitive outcome.
▪ In our theory this is simply an example of the competitive process at work.
▪ Even though Darwinian evolution is represented as a competitive process, the outcome has often been that animals ended up working with each other.
▪ Organisations involve the juxtaposition of co-operative and competitive processes.
▪ The competitive process arises out of disequilibrium in markets giving opportunities for entrepreneurs to exploit their superior information and earn profits.
product
▪ First we look at external issues such as government regulations, competitive products, market conditions, and so on.
rate
▪ And our competitive rates mean your repayments are easy to manage.
▪ They pay interest on insured deposits and earn interest on loans to members at competitive rates.
▪ Commercial banks were now allowed to trade directly with overseas dealers at competitive rates.
▪ Credit unions already offer competitive rates on loans.
▪ The package will be offered at a competitive rate in the medium price range for such a product.
▪ But there's more to Girobank's service than competitive rates alone.
▪ Charges are £270 initial fee, £270 annual charge, and investment dealing at competitive rates.
▪ This is an independent, five-year parts and labour warranty, which is sold at a competitive rate.
situation
▪ Stress can easily be generated in a class by a teaching program, through the use of competitive situations, for example.
▪ Natural selection, the cumulative development of more efficient replicators in a competitive situation, is certainly an important factor in evolution.
▪ The competitive situation keeps the governing party on its toes and sensitive to the public's view of policy.
▪ But given our competitive situation, we had no choice.
▪ In a competitive situation, this would act as an effective discipline.
▪ You have a competitive situation, and that is all you need is to have a computer breakdown.
▪ But I've come to the conclusion that these are sometimes a bit astrological, particularly if you're in a competitive situation.
▪ This was a significant achievement in the highly competitive situation to which I have referred.
strategy
▪ There is one competitive strategy for each offering, ie each firmlet.
▪ The test of a competitive strategy is its profitability.
▪ Traditionally, key information about the business particularly information related to competitive strategy and financial performance-was considered confidential.
▪ It should focus upon understanding that structure in order to develop a competitive strategy.
▪ B Competition and competitive strategy 1.
▪ In their pure form they have neither corporate nor competitive strategies as defined above.
strengths
▪ Finance experts have a clear role to play, along with accountants, in improving the specification of market attractiveness and competitive strengths.
▪ Thus knowledge of competitive strengths and weaknesses will be an advantage in this situation.
▪ Interestingly enough, more and more information is now. available on a world basis about competitive strengths.
▪ The signals of changes in competitive strengths begin before any increase in sales and profits is seen.
▪ Indeed ideally it will employ more than one of the skills which one has recognized as being competitive strengths.
▪ Declining the chance to invest may result in considerable losses through lack of maintaining competitive strengths in the industry.
▪ These key strategic factors ought to be observable from a thorough analysis of market attractiveness and competitive strengths.
tendering
▪ Mr. Kenneth Carlisle Equipment procurement including development is already subject to competitive tendering wherever practicable.
▪ Indeed, the local strategists won approval for opting out of competitive tendering without having to approach the secretary of state.
▪ There are many benefits of compulsory competitive tendering in London, but many local authorities resisted it.
▪ As the Minister raises his eyebrow, I recommend my excellent speech on competitive tendering of 20 January in the House.
▪ Compulsory competitive tendering will oblige local authorities to bring in managers who demonstrate their ability to deliver the best services to tenants.
▪ We are touching here on the sensitive area of competitive tendering and of privatisation.
▪ Compulsory competitive tendering provides better services at lower cost to the charge payer in London.
▪ The Labour party is almost alone in the world in questioning the benefits of competitive tendering.
world
▪ There are just two firms which will bid, though the minerals extracted will subsequently be sold on a competitive world market.
▪ In a competitive world, most men dislike rivals, nonconformists, dissenters, and opponents.
▪ In a harshly competitive world there is little mercy.
▪ In this competitive world, the only source of job security is your ability to create value for customers.
▪ It was each for himself in a hard, competitive world.
▪ But in this keenly competitive world your crop may become more marketable the more information about it you supply.
▪ We live in an increasingly competitive world where good qualifications are a passport to success.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Amanda hated working in advertising - it was so competitive.
▪ Beth's so competitive, even with her friends.
▪ Call this number for our free catalogue of competitively priced software.
▪ Fiercely competitive at all times, Ravi is a difficult man to work with.
▪ I hate playing tennis with Stephen - he's too competitive.
▪ I think you'll find our prices are extremely competitive.
▪ In such a fiercely competitive environment, it's inevitable that some companies will go out of business.
▪ Long distance phone companies offer very competitive rates.
▪ Some U.S. industries are not as competitive as they have been in the past.
▪ The atmosphere at our school was highly competitive.
▪ The company offered a competitive bid for the contract.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Another set of activities, which are physical but not competitive, are also often included in national sports participation surveys.
▪ Globalisation has been one factor forcing prices down, but privatisation and increased regulation have led to a tougher competitive environment.
▪ He is a selfish, competitive fighter who is totally calculating about how he allocates his time and resources.
▪ It is apparently a competitive oligopoly.
▪ The competitive situation keeps the governing party on its toes and sensitive to the public's view of policy.
▪ The company lobbied Congress in the hope of being able to buy it directly from the commission without competitive bidding.
▪ The main competitive advantage of the firm is the relatively low cost of the labor force both for production and design.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Competitive
Competitive \Com*pet"i*tive\, a. Of or pertaining to competition; producing competition; competitory; as, a competitive examination.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
competitive
1826, from Latin competit-, past participle stem of competere (see compete) + -ive. Related: Competitively; competitiveness.
Wiktionary
competitive
a. 1 (context economics English) capable of compete successfully 2 of or pertaining to competition
WordNet
competitive
adj. involving competition or competitiveness; "competitive games"; "to improve one's competitive position" [syn: competitory] [ant: noncompetitive]
subscribing to capitalistic competition [syn: free-enterprise(a), private-enterprise(a)]
showing a fighting disposition without self-seeking; "highly competitive sales representative"; "militant in fighting for better wages for workers"; "his self-assertive and ubiquitous energy" [syn: militant]
Wikipedia
Usage examples of "competitive".
Some of the new firms operate on small capital and specialize in cheap hats which are directly competitive with the cheapest Italian hats.
Although the membership of the group of producers of cheap hats is fluctuating, its total output of hats each year is a factor in the competitive situation.
When fans watched Damon, they saw the sort of thrilling leadoff hitter that a team simply had to have if it wanted to be competitive.
Locking was trying to be Mr Nonsexist but his style was still male - hostile, aggressive, competitive.
It was an industry pursued by wild risk takers who were fiercely competitive and secretive about the pearls they found.
Do you constantly review competitive products in order to stay ahead in the marketplace?
Kingships emerged in societies that were changing rapidly and were very competitive.
For the past ten years, the Robineau Institute beat the imperial lycee of the town at every competitive examination, and all the colleges of the subprefecture, and these constant successes were due, they said, to an usher, a simple usher, M.
Our relationship has always had that competitive edgeespecially since we wound up in exactly the same subspecialty, directly competing for patients.
A series of competitive tests of enclosed motors for use in mines has been announced, and is in progress, the object being to determine whether or not sparking from such motors will cause an explosion in the presence of inflammable gas.
His natural ability, coupled with a finely tuned competitive streak led to him becoming a British champion show-jumper, who won more awards and trophies than any other rider of his ilk.
While the game of life needs to be competitive, no rules smash mouth bloodsport in which losers are fed to the lions should not be confused with free enterprise.
In the past, most of these universal concerns have had to be left to the competitive enterprise of profit-seeking individuals because there were as yet no collectivities organized to the pitch of ability needed to develop and control these concerns, but surely nobody in his senses believes that the supply and distribution of staple commodities about the earth by irresponsible persons and companies working entirely for monetary gain is the best possible method from the point of view of the race as a whole.
Politicians were competitive about attending executions, hoping their presence at such weighty law-and-order scenes would garner votes.
Even fiercely competitive hotels aided each other in that kind of crisis, never knowing when the roles would be reversed.