compete
v.v. to try to be more successful than someone else in a game, a race, or at work. You do this when you want to win a prize or get more customers.
v. to strive to gain or win something by establishing superiority over others who are trying to do the same. Intransitive — requires a prepositional phrase to specify the opponent or the goal.
Many athletes compete in the Olympic Games.
Local businesses must compete with large international companies to attract new customers in the city center.
While the two software firms compete fiercely for market share in the mobile sector, they often collaborate on industry-wide security standards to protect their users.
Borrowed from Middle French competer, from Latin competere (“to coincide, to be equal to, to be capable of”), from com- (“with”) + petō (“to seek; to aim for, strive for”). Compare Latin competītor (“competitor”).
The verb is intransitive; it takes 'with' or 'against' for opponents, and 'for' or 'in' for the prize or event.
they compete the trophythey compete for the trophyCompete is intransitive and cannot take a direct object; you must use a preposition like 'for' to indicate the goal.