rivalrous
Meaning
characterized by competition or opposition, as between individuals or groups
(economics) describing a good whose consumption by one person prevents simultaneous consumption by another
Structure
Usage
the market environment became intensely rivalrous as new companies entered the fray.
clean air is a non-rivalrous good, whereas a slice of pizza is a rivalrous one.
their rivalrous attitudes prevented any possibility of cooperation on the project.
Etymology
The word 'rivalrous' is built upon the core noun 'rival', which originates from the Latin rivalis, meaning a person sharing the same stream (rivus). This literal sense of sharing a common, and often contested, resource naturally evolved to signify competition and opposition. The suffix '-ous', from Latin -osus, denotes 'full of' or 'characterized by'. Therefore, 'rivalrous' literally means 'full of rivalry', directly extending the concept of competition to describe behaviors, relationships, or, in economic terms, the nature of goods where one person's use excludes another's.
Analysis
rival (from latin rivalis, originally 'one using the same stream as another', from rivus meaning 'stream') + ous (from latin -osus, meaning 'full of' or 'characterized by')