rivalry

Etymology

It was formed in English from the noun rival and -ry.^[2][3][4][5] Rival itself is from Latin rīvālis, originally "of the same brook", one who used the same stream as another, from rīvus (“brook, stream”).^[3][6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Competition, the state of being rivals: 1598, in John Marston's Scourge of Villanie.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The OED notes the earlier rivality.^[2] Etymonline points out that when Shakespeare used rivality in Antony and Cleopatra it meant partnership or equality in rank, from a secondary sense of the Latin, and that Jonson used rivalship and others rivaltry in the 1630s and 1640s.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined rivalry as "competition; emulation".^[7] In 1844 physiology took it up, as binocular rivalry, for the alternation in perception when each eye is shown a different image.^[2][5] A rare collective sense, a group of rivals, is recorded in 1802.^[2]

Timeline

• 1598 – competition; the state of being rivals.^[2][4]
• 1802 – a group of rivals (rare).^[2]
• 1844 – (physiology) binocular rivalry.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Competition between people or groups who want the same thing or try to outdo each other: the old rivalry between the two clubs.
2. (physiology) The alternation in perception when each eye is shown a different image at the same time, also called binocular rivalry.

Related words

• rival
• river
• derive

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.