one-upmanship (1952)

The 21st century’s space race is between Jeff Bezos, the boss of Amazon, and Elon Musk, the boss of SpaceX and Tesla. In their one-upmanship, the duelling entrepreneurs are bringing down the cost of access to space.

From 1843 Magazine

Representation of the People Act 1867

Its catchier name is the Second Reform Act. The groundwork was achieved 35 years earlier when the Reform Act 1832 cleaned up various unwholesome aspects of the electoral system by eliminating some of the whiffiest of the rotten boroughs and enlarging the electorate by 60%. However, that still left most of the population unable to vote, so the successor act enfranchised a swath of the working classes. At first only "respectable" workers were to be privileged, but political oneupmanship led to the Conservatives venturing more drastic reforms that made most urban householders eligible (provided they were male, naturally).



Bernanke Sees Early Stages of Healing in U.S. Economy

Bernanke said growth is likely to resume later this year on the back of firmer household spending, a bottoming housing market and an end to inventory liquidation. (Remarks)

Microsoft One-Ups Apple's IPod Engraving
The Associated Press - SEATTLE (AP) — In a bid to one-up Apple, Microsoft said it will engravedesigns by contemporary artists on the back of its Zune media players free of charge ...

one-upmanship       1952
noun [U] DISAPPROVING
when someone does or says something in order to prove that they are better than someone else

one-upmanship

NOUN

[MASS NOUN] informal

The technique or practice of gaining an advantage or feeling of superiority over another person:the one-upmanship of who can get the best presents

More example sentences

• It is pathetic though to see the TN government indulge in one-upmanship with political rivals over the elimination of Veerappan.
• It would have been a simple matter to pilfer their tawdry Christmas illuminations in order to gain one-upmanship this year.
• Each time a council meeting is cancelled or postponed because of political manoeuvring and one-upmanship, the real business of the municipality suffers.