contest

English

Etymology

From French contester, from Old French, from Latin contestor (“to call to witness”).

Pronunciation

Noun

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒn.tɛst/
• (US) enPR: kŏn'tĕst, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑn.tɛst/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒntɛst

Verb

• (UK, US) enPR: kəntĕst', IPA^(key): /kənˈtɛst/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛst

Noun

contest (countable and uncountable, plural contests)

1. (uncountable) Controversy; debate.

   Synonyms: controversy, debate, discussion

   no contest

2. (uncountable) Struggle for superiority; combat.

   Synonyms: battle, combat, fight

3. (countable) A competition.

   Synonyms: competition, pageant

   The child entered the spelling contest.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

contest (third-person singular simple present contests, present participle contesting, simple past and past participle contested)

1. (intransitive) To contend.

   Synonyms: compete, contend, go in for

   I will contest for the open seat on the board.

   • 1725, Homer, “Book IV”, in [Elijah Fenton], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. , volume I, London: Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:

     Of man, who dares in pomp with Jove contest?

   • 1684-1690, Thomas Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth

     As for the difficulty or obscurity of an argument, that does but add to the pleasure.of contesting with it when there are hopes of victory

2. (transitive) To call into question; to oppose.

   Synonyms: call into question, oppose

   Antonym: support

   The rival contested the dictator's re-election because of claims of voting irregularities.

   • 1848, John Daniel Morell, Historical and Critical View of the Speculative Philosophy of Europe in the Nineteenth Century:

     Few philosophical aphorisms have been more frequently repeated, few more contested than this.

   • 1981, Anouar Abdel-Malek, Social Dialectics: Nation and Revolution, page 13:

     On the other hand, the nationalitarian phenomenon is one in which the struggle against the imperialist powers of occupation has as its object, beyond the clearing of the national territory, the independence and sovereignty of the national State, uprooting in depth the positions of the ex-colonial power— the reconquest of the power of decision in all domains of national life, the prelude to that reconquest of identity which is at the heart of the renaissance undertaken on the basis of fundamental national demands, and ceaselessly contested, by every means available, on every level, and notably on the internal level'.

3. (transitive) To strive earnestly to hold or maintain; to struggle to defend.

   The troops contested every inch of ground.

4. (law) To make a subject of litigation; to defend, as a suit; to dispute or resist, as a claim, by course of law.

   Synonym: controvert

Translations

Anagrams

• Consett, Cottens