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contend. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
contend, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
contend in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
contend you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English contenden, borrowed from Old French contendre, from Latin contendere (“to stretch out, extend, strive after, contend”), from com- (“together”) + tendere (“to stretch”); see tend, and compare attend, extend, intend, subtend.
Pronunciation
Verb
contend (third-person singular simple present contends, present participle contending, simple past and past participle contended)
- (intransitive) To be in opposition; to contest; to dispute; to vie; to quarrel; to fight.
1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :For never two such kingdoms did contend without much fall of blood.
- 2011, Osaiah "Ike" Wilson III, James J.F. Forrest, Handbook of Defence Politics
- the armies of Syria and Lebanon lack the capability to contend with the Israeli army, as demonstrated during the course of the First Lebanon War.
- (intransitive) To struggle or exert oneself to obtain or retain possession of, or to defend.
- 17th century, John Dryden, Epistle III to the Lady Castlemain
- You sit above, and see vain men below / Contend for what you only can bestow.
2020, C. Matthew McMahon, Therese B. McMahon, 5 Marks of Christian Resolve:God has entrusted something to the church, and it is the church's job to contend for it, even unto death
- (intransitive) To be in debate; to engage in discussion; to dispute; to argue.
1667, attributed to Richard Allestree, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety. , London: R. Norton for T. Garthwait, , →OCLC:many of those things he so fiercely contended about , were either falle or trivial
- (intransitive) To believe (something is reasonable) and argue (for it); to advocate.
In this paper the author contends that no useful results can be obtained if this method is used.
1996, Michael Adler, Erio Ziglio, Gazing Into the Oracle :Some panellists contended that the costs of research and care justified the establishment of a permanent national commission
2022 August 24, Tassanee Vejpongsa, Grant Peck, “Thai court suspends PM Prayuth pending ruling on term limit”, in The Washington Post, retrieved 2022-08-24:His critics contend the eight years [term limit] expired Tuesday, the day before the anniversary of Prayuth officially becoming prime minister in the military government installed after the coup.
- Supreme Court of the United States (2024) Trump v. Andersons:Trump v. Anderson, page 1:
- contend with: To try to cope with a difficulty or problem.
2021 December 29, Dominique Louis, “Causal analysis: crashworthiness at Sandilands”, in RAIL, number 947, page 32:However, the challenges for the railway world are much greater than for automotive as we generally have more occupants, higher speeds, greater masses, higher energies, and an absence of seatbelts or airbags to contend with.
Synonyms
Related terms
Translations
strive in opposition
- Bulgarian: съпернича (bg) (sǎperniča), състезавам се (sǎstezavam se)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 奮鬥/奋斗 (zh) (fèndòu), 掙扎 (zh) (zhēngzhá), 競爭/竞争 (zh) (jìngzhēng), 鬥爭/斗争 (zh) (dòuzhēng)
- Czech: zápasit impf, bojovat (cs) impf, rvát se impf
- Dutch: weerspreken (nl), tegenspreken (nl), betwisten (nl)
- Finnish: kiistellä (fi), käydä käsiksi, riidellä (fi), taistella (fi)
- German: streiten (de), sich auseinandersetzen, ringen mit, sich widersetzen, kämpfen (de)
- Gothic: 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍆𐍃𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (haifstjan)
- Greek:
- Ancient: ἀγωνίζομαι (agōnízomai), ἀθλέω (athléō)
- Latin: certō, dīmicō
- Maori: tauwhāinga, taumāhekeheke (in a friendly manner), tauwhāinga
- Middle English: macchen
- Old English: flītan
- Persian: ستیزه کردن (setize kardan)
- Russian: соперничать (ru) (soperničatʹ)
- Sanskrit: स्पर्धते (spardhate)
- Spanish: contender (es)
- Swedish: kämpa (sv), strida (sv)
- Ukrainian: змага́тися (zmahátysja)
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struggle
- Bulgarian: боря се (borja se), сражавам се (sražavam se)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 競爭/竞争 (zh) (jìngzhēng), 爭奪/争夺 (zh) (zhēngduó), 掙扎 (zh) (zhēngzhá)
- Czech: snažit se (cs) impf, namáhat se impf, probíjet se impf
- Dutch: bestrijden (nl)
- Finnish: kamppailla (fi)
- German: verteidigen (de), festhalten an, ringen um, kämpfen für, kämpfen um
- Latin: dīmicō
- Maori: kairapu, kairapurapu
- Old Norse: þreyta
- Russian: боро́ться (ru) (borótʹsja)
- Spanish: contender (es)
- Ukrainian: боро́тися (uk) (borótysja)
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Translations to be checked
Further reading
- “contend”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “contend”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “contend”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.