Compete against one, lose at last (3)

I believe the answer is:

vie

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'compete' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'against one lose at last' is the wordplay.
'against' becomes 'vi' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'at last' says to take the final letters.
The final letter of 'lose' is 'e'.
'vi'+'e'='VIE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for vie that I've seen before include "Compete (with others)" , "Struggle" , "I've got to compete" , "Try to do better than" , "I've got to contend" .)

I've seen this clue in The Hindu.

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