Competitive means hating to lose and always trying to be first. A competitive player, fiercely competitive, competitive about everything.
Of a person it can be praise or a complaint depending entirely on the setting. Of a market or a price it means good against rivals: a competitive price, competitive salaries. Of a job or a course it means hard to get into: competitive entry. Note competitiveness; anti-competitive, which is a legal term about market abuse; and that competitive advantage is one of the founding phrases of business writing.
1adjectivecompetitiveHating to lose; always trying to be first.
“She is competitive about board games and nothing else.”
2adjectivegoodGood enough to succeed against rivals.
“The price is competitive and the delivery is not.”
competitive is a quality of striving.
Latin competere meant to strive together, from com- plus petere, to seek. Compete, competent and petition all come from the same petere, so competing and asking for something are the same verb.
Latin
competītus
English, today
competitive
From Latin competītus (past participle of competere)ive.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Sharper Adjectives