These words refer to two or more people or factions struggling against each other to win a given objective. Compete is the most general of these, applying to the widest range of situations: pianists competing in the contest; football teams competing for the premiership; candidates competing for the office; armies competing for victory in the battle; businesses competing for the biggest slice of the market. As can be seen, the objective implied by this word can be, most concretely, a prize or award that is won by a single confrontation, or, more abstractly, a share in something that falls to one side for its continuing effort: television programmes competing for the largest share of the audience.

Contend and vie suggest, more strictly, the moment of direct confrontation, and thus are narrowed to one possibility for compete . Contend , however, adds a note of actual hostility or serious disagreement, where compete may suggest none; furthermore, the word often suggests a dispute carried on verbally, as in a debate: speakers who fell to contending about the least important points in the proposal. Even when the verbal implication is not present, the animus often remains: forces contending bitterly to win the uncommitted delegates. The implications of vie stress a series of countering manoeuvres in an ongoing struggle: neighbours continually vying with each other as to who could display the greater number of status symbols. The word is, however, more like compete than contend in lacking overtones of hostility.

Oppose may often, by implication, restrict the competing ides to two: extroversion, as opposed to introversion; pre-selection ballots in which may compete for the right to oppose the other party’s choice in the main election. This narrowing of sides to tow is not always present in the word: a debate in which many factions opposed one another. In any case, oppose does stress the choosing of clearly defined sides and suggests a greater rigidity of position than any of these words. It may suggest hostility, like contend , or at least a serious discrepancy of views not easily compromised: attitudes towards drug addiction that were sharply opposed to each other. Rival can be specifically used to suggest a struggle of two or more sides to outdo each other: candidates who rival each other in popularity; dresses that rival each other in vulgarity. Even more specifically, the word may suggest that one performance nearly matches another: domestic wines that rival the best French imports; a role in which she rivals the best acting she has previously shown us. These special applications of the word, in this context, make it the most restricted in meaning of words grouped here.