Sentence:  Even Rector himself was prey to this <WSD>spirit</WSD> of competition and he knew it , not for a more exalted office in the hierarchy of the church - his ambitions for the bishopry had died very early in his career - but for the one clear victory he had talked about to the colonel . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  the general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people