competition _noun

1-) an event in which people compete with each other

ADJECTIVES & NOUNS

major, big 
・She has won several major sports competitions.

national, nationwide 
・He entered a nationwide competition to find the country’s best storyteller.

international
・Her oldest daughter has taken part in international competitions.

annual
・Last year he won the magazine’s annual photo competition.

writing, painting, dancing, etc.
・Greg took part in the school public-speaking competition.

sports, football, basketball, etc. 
・There is an increasing demand to watch sports competitions.

music, essay, poetry, etc.
・There’s a music competition in the town on June 12th.

open
・An open competition is to be held at the tennis club.

knock-out 
・The singing contest is a knock-out competition, and no one wants to be the first to leave.

newspaper, magazine 
・I entered a newspaper competition for young writer of the year.

exciting
・This year’s competition has been very exciting.

VERBS

enter 
・You must be over 16 to enter the competition.

take part in, participate in 
・Ten schools took part in the competition.

win 
・I was really happy when I heard I had won the competition.

have, hold 
・Each year the school holds a painting competition.

run 
・The company is running a competition to come up with a new invention.

launch 
・We’re launching a competition to find the best young designer.

judge 
・A panel of five will judge the competition.

withdraw from, retire from 
・He had to withdraw from the competition because of an injury.

be disqualified from 
・Anyone found taking drugs will be disqualified from the competition.

put out of, knock out of
・They put us out of the competition in the semi-final last year.

PREPOSITIONS

in 
・She’s in a dancing competition this weekend.

out of 
・Our team scored the fewest points so we were out of the competition.

for
・There’s a competition for the best photograph.

between 
・We decided that a competition between the boys and girls would be fun.

PHRASES

come first/second/third in a competition 
・Stuart came second in the swimming competition.

the results of a competition
・The results of the competition will be announced on April 3rd.

the winner of a competition
・Jane was the clear winner of the competition.

the rules of a competition
・Make sure you understand the rules of the competition.

a competition is open to sb
・The competition is open to artists between 16 and 25 years old.

2-) a situation in which people are trying to be more successful than others

ADJECTIVES

strong, serious 
・The company is facing strong competition in the market.

stiff, tough, keen
・There is stiff competition for places at the top universities.

fierce, intense
・There is fierce competition between the three leading manufacturers.

cut-throat
・The cut-throat competition in the airline industry kept prices low.

fair, unfair 
・Fair competition offers the best guarantee of good services and low prices.
・The government wants to protect the industry from unfair competition from abroad.

open 
・We welcome open competition in the software market.

healthy
・There has always been healthy competition between the two athletes.

friendly
・There’s nothing wrong with a little friendly competition.

increasing, growing 
・There is increasing competition for school places.

VERBS

be up against, face 
・They are up against stiff competition.

beat off, fight off
・She beat off competition from dozens of other candidates to get the job.

create
・The proposals were intended to create more competition.

encourage, stimulate 
・They want to encourage greater competition in the banking sector.

increase, reduce
・We need to increase choice and competition.

COMPETITION + VERB
increase, grow, intensify
・It is likely that competition will grow in the next few months. 
・Recently, competition between the companies has intensified.

PREPOSITIONS

for
・Competition for the job was intense.

between 
・Sometimes there’s a lot of competition between brothers and sisters.

among 
・This price reduction is due to competition among suppliers.

from
・We face strong competition from foreign firms.

PHRASES

be in competition with sb
・Government departments are in direct competition with each other for limited resources.

go/enter into competition with sb 
・He never forgave his business partner for breaking away and going into competition with him.

in the face of competition 
・They won the contract in the face of tough competition.