contest
Americannoun
-
contests
plural
-
a race, conflict, or other competition between rivals, as for a prize.
- Synonyms:
- game, tourney, tournament, match, rivalry, contention
-
struggle for victory or superiority.
-
vigorous or bitter conflict in argument; dispute; controversy.
Their marriage was marred by perpetual contest.
- Synonyms:
- opposition, disagreement, difference, clash, altercation, antagonism, discord, strife
verb (used with object)
-
contests,
present (3rd person singular)
-
contested,
past participle, past
-
contesting
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
contests,
present (3rd person singular)
-
contested,
past participle, past
-
contesting
present participle
noun
-
a formal game or match in which two or more people, teams, etc, compete and attempt to win
-
a struggle for victory between opposing forces or interests
verb
-
(tr) to try to disprove; call in question
-
to fight, dispute, or contend (with)
contest an election
Synonym Usage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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contestablenessnoun
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contestationnoun
-
contesternoun
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precontestnoun
-
subcontestnoun
-
supercontestnoun
-
recontestverb
-
precontestverb (used with object)
-
supercontestverb (used with object)
-
contestableadjective
-
uncontestableadjective
-
contestablyadverb
-
contestinglyadverb
-
uncontestablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
contestsimple
-
contestssimple
-
have contestedperfect
-
has contestedperfect
-
am contestingprogressive
-
are contestingprogressive
-
is contestingprogressive
-
have been contestingperfect progressive
-
has been contestingperfect progressive
Past
-
contestedsimple
-
had contestedperfect
-
was contestingprogressive
-
were contestingprogressive
-
had been contestingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of contest
First recorded in 1595–1605; (verb) from Latin contestāri “to call to witness (in a lawsuit),” equivalent to con- con- + testārī “to testify, ” derivative of testis witness; the noun is derivative of the verb, or is from French conteste
Explanation
A contest is a struggle to determine who's tops –- you might wrestle an alligator in a contest of brute strength versus strategy. You can also enter a contest — a yodeling contest or a cake-decorating contest, depending on your talents. If you're being sued and you respond to the court order saying "no contest," you're saying you're not going to put up a fight. When you put the accent on the second syllable, contest becomes a verb, and it means to dispute something. You lost the election for class president, but you think there was something fishy going on at the ballot box, so you contest the results and ask for a recount.
Vocabulary lists containing contest
Beowulf vocabulary
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Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address (1801)
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Orbiting Jupiter
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Fertilization is commonly portrayed as an intense contest in which millions of sperm race toward a single egg.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026
The activities of the party were banned soon after she fled the country and it was not allowed to contest the February general election.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
Civil servant and ruling party member Noel Urbina, 45, told AFP he does not believe Chavistas would endorse Rodriguez in a leadership contest -- a move which marks a break with the past, experts say.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
The contest turned deeply nasty in the closing weeks.
From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2026
Another winter she was helping Lester revise his ‘What Indiana Means to Me’ essay for the county contest.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
Kolodny also emphasized that it’s politically savvy for industry groups to support the re-election of incumbents in safe seats, rather than just focusing on the relatively few of the House’s 435 contests that are competitive.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
“However,” it said, “aiming to return to a status where the outcomes of most contests are known by the end of Election Week is a realistic goal.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
Rather than a shootout or penalty kicks, the championship was decided by a single moment of quality in one of the tournament’s tightest contests.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
She joined their fandom, known as ARMY, went to meetings, started a fan account, voted in K-pop contests and posted religiously.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
They entered contests in which they were dropped in a strange forest or field or even a city with only a compass and a few landmarks.
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
“Theoretically, the courts have the authority to temporarily block the disputed development,” Sotir Dhamo, an urban planning professor at Polis University in Tirana, said of contested properties facing development.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
At the heart of the fight is an essential, hotly contested question: Is social media addiction even real?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
Lawyers for Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi had asked for the contested statement to be ruled inadmissible, claiming it was false and made under duress.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
If contested, those claims may ultimately be decided in court.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
Louie Zamperini was on his way to Germany to compete in the Olympics in an event that he had only contested four times.
From "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand
That history is why contesting the constitutional allocation of public safety cannot mean giving private people authority to govern vulnerable people.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
“Waymo reviews all received citations and may engage with the court to address and resolve them, including contesting cases on their merit if we believe they were issued erroneously,” a company spokesman said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Washington and Tehran have been contesting some of the deal’s finer points, including whether passage through the key waterway will be free from tolls.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 2026
Without the VSC, Hamilton's three-stop strategy, compared with the two of Russell and Antonelli, would have had him catching the two Mercedes and contesting for the victory in the closing laps.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
Nothing much happened in court, other than Du Bois announcing his plans to file a motion contesting the decision to try Richard as an adult.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
