fare a gara

Italian edit

Literally, “to do at race”.

fàre a gara (first-person singular present fàccio a gara, first-person singular past historic féci a gara, past participle fàtto a gara, first-person singular imperfect facévo a gara, second-person singular imperative fài a gara or fà' a gara, auxiliary avére)

to strive to end up better or higher-ranked than others; to compete; to outdo; to one up
Synonyms: competere, gareggiare
- 2020 October 13, Federico Rampini, “Battaglia per i voti over 65: l'ultima sfida Trump-Biden [Battle for the over-65 vote: the last Trump-Biden challenge]”, in la Repubblica‎^[1]:
  La novità è che fino a un mese fa i due settuagenari in corsa per la Casa Bianca facevano a gara per mostrarsi giovanili e in forma; Biden ha dovuto rintuzzare accuse di "senilità".
  The novelty is that until a month ago, the two septuagenarians running for the White House were competing to show themselves as young and in shape; Biden had to cut back on accusations of "senility".