Contest — Defs

01 v. t. To make a subject of dispute, contention, litigation, or emulation; to contend for; to call in question; to controvert; to oppose; to dispute.

imp. & p. p. Contested; p. pr. & vb. n. Contesting

1.
To make a subject of dispute, contention, litigation, or emulation; to contend for; to call in question; to controvert; to oppose; to dispute.
“The people . . . contested not what was done.” — Locke.

“Few philosophical aphorisms have been more frequenty repeated, few more contested than this.” — J. D. Morell.
2.
To strive earnestly to hold or maintain; to struggle to defend; as, the troops contested every inch of ground.
3.
To make a subject of litigation; to defend, as a suit; to dispute or resist; as a claim, by course of law; to controvert.(Law)

Phrases & compounds

To contest an election — To strive to be elected.

Syn. To dispute; controvert; debate; litigate; oppose; argue; contend.

02 v. i. To engage in contention, or emulation; to contend; to strive; to vie; to emulate; -- followed usually by with.

1.
To engage in contention, or emulation; to contend; to strive; to vie; to emulate; -- followed usually by with.
“The difficulty of an argument adds to the pleasure of contesting with it, when there are hopes of victory.” — Bp. Burnet.

“Of man, who dares in pomp with Jove contest?” — Pope.

03 n. Earnest dispute; strife in argument; controversy; debate; altercation.

1.
Earnest dispute; strife in argument; controversy; debate; altercation.
“Leave all noisy contests, all immodest clamors and brawling language.” — I. Watts.
2.
Earnest struggle for superiority, victory, defense, etc.; competition; emulation; strife in arms; conflict; combat; encounter.
“The late battle had, in effect, been a contest between one usurper and another.” — Hallam.

“It was fully expected that the contest there would be long and fierce.” — Macaulay.

Syn. Conflict; combat; battle; encounter; shock; struggle; dispute; altercation; debate; controvesy; difference; disagreement; strife.

-- Contest, Conflict, Combat, Encounter. Contest is the broadest term, and had originally no reference to actual fighting. It was, on the contrary, a legal term signifying to call witnesses, and hence came to denote first a struggle in argument, and then a struggle for some common object between opposing parties, usually one of considerable duration, and implying successive stages or acts. Conflict denotes literally a close personal engagement, in which sense it is applied to actual fighting. It is, however, more commonly used in a figurative sense to denote strenuous or direct opposition; as, a mental conflict; conflicting interests or passions; a conflict of laws. An encounter is a direct meeting face to face. Usually it is a hostile meeting, and is then very nearly coincident with conflict; as, an encounter of opposing hosts. Sometimes it is used in a looser sense; as, “this keen encounter of our wits.” Shak. Combat is commonly applied to actual fighting, but may be used figuratively in reference to a strife or words or a struggle of feeling.