one-upmanship

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

That kind of provocative behavior will lead to years, even a lifetime, of one-upmanship, backbiting and behind-the-scenes maneuvers.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 3, 2025

The resulting game of financial one-upmanship has tied the fates of the world’s biggest semiconductor and cloud companies—and vast swaths of the U.S. economy—to OpenAI, essentially making it too big to fail.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 21, 2025

The skyscape of this city is peppered with examples of architectural “I’ll go higher still” one-upmanship.

From BBC • Sep. 26, 2024

Also underway are the campaign intel-gathering, one-upmanship and trash talk.

From Seattle Times • May 17, 2024

I laughed at the thought of Mrs. Dorn keeping a tally of everything her neighbors purchased, and tried not to be jealous that Audrey got a car because of a game of wealthy one-upmanship.

From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson