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challenge

American  

[chal-inj] / ˈtʃæl ɪndʒ /

noun

• challenges
  plural

1. a call or summons to engage in any contest, as of skill, strength, etc.

2. something that by its nature or character serves as a call to battle, contest, special effort, etc..

   Space exploration offers a challenge to humankind.

3. a call to fight, as a battle, a duel, etc.

4. a demand to explain, justify, etc..

   a challenge to the treasurer to itemize expenditures.

5. difficulty in a job or undertaking that is stimulating to one engaged in it.

6. Military. the demand of a sentry for identification or a countersign.

7. Law. a formal objection to the qualifications of a particular juror, to that juror serving, or to the legality of an entire jury.

8. the assertion that a vote is invalid or that a voter is not legally qualified.

9. Biology. the process of inducing or assessing physiological or immunological activity by exposing an organism to a specific substance.

10. Hunting. the crying of a hound on finding a scent.

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verb (used with object)

• challenges,
  present (3rd person singular)
• challenged,
  past participle,  past
• challenging
  present participle

1. to summon to a contest of skill, strength, etc.

   Synonyms:

   invite, bid, dare

2. to take exception to; call in question.

   to challenge the wisdom of a procedure.

   Synonyms:

   doubt, impute, question

3. to demand as something due or rightful.

4. Military. to halt and demand identification or countersign from.

5. Law. to take formal exception to (a juror or jury).

6. to have a claim to; invite; arouse; stimulate.

   a matter which challenges attention.

7. to assert that (a vote) is invalid.

8. to assert that (a voter) is not qualified to vote.

9. to expose an organism to a specific substance in order to assess its physiological or immunological activity.

10. Archaic. to lay claim to.

verb (used without object)

• challenges,
  present (3rd person singular)
• challenged,
  past participle,  past
• challenging
  present participle

1. to make or issue a challenge.

2. Hunting. (of hounds) to cry or give tongue on picking up the scent.

adjective

1. donated or given by a private, corporate, or government benefactor on condition that the recipient raise an additional specified amount from the public.

   a challenge grant.

challenge British  

/ ˈtʃælɪndʒ /

verb

1. to invite or summon (someone to do something, esp to take part in a contest)

2. (also intr) to call (something) into question; dispute

3. to make demands on; stimulate

   the job challenges his ingenuity

4. to order (a person) to halt and be identified or to give a password

5. law to make formal objection to (a juror or jury)

6. to lay claim to (attention, etc)

7. (intr) hunting (of a hound) to cry out on first encountering the scent of a quarry

8. to inject (an experimental animal immunized with a test substance) with disease microorganisms to test for immunity to the disease

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noun

1. a call to engage in a fight, argument, or contest

2. a questioning of a statement or fact; a demand for justification or explanation

3. a demanding or stimulating situation, career, object, etc

4. a demand by a sentry, watchman, etc, for identification or a password

5. an assertion that a person is not entitled to vote or that a vote is invalid

6. law a formal objection to a person selected to serve on a jury ( challenge to the polls ) or to the whole body of jurors ( challenge to the array )

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• challenger
  noun
• prechallenge
  verb (used with object)
• rechallenge
  verb (used with object)
• challengeable
  adjective
• unchallengeable
  adjective
• unchallengeably
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• challenges
  plural

Participles

• challenging
  present
• challenged
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• challenge
  simple
• challenges
  simple
• have challenged
  perfect
• has challenged
  perfect
• am challenging
  progressive
• are challenging
  progressive
• is challenging
  progressive
• have been challenging
  perfect progressive
• has been challenging
  perfect progressive

Past

• challenged
  simple
• had challenged
  perfect
• was challenging
  progressive
• were challenging
  progressive
• had been challenging
  perfect progressive

Future

• will challenge
  simple
• will have challenged
  perfect
• will be challenging
  progressive
• will have been challenging
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of challenge

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English chalenge, from Old French, variant of chalonge, from Latin calumnia “false statement”; see calumny

Explanation

A challenge is something that puts you to the test — like running your first marathon or reading War and Peace. Challenge, as a verb, is derived from a Latin word meaning "to accuse falsely," and it is still used much as it was in the 13th century, in the sense of questioning whether something is true or right. Students sometimes challenge a weeknight curfew, and lawyers might challenge the evidence submitted by the other side in a lawsuit. Challenge is also used as a noun for a competition in which people challenge one another to prove that they’re the best at something.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

challenge challenges challenged challenging

For years, astronomers faced a major observational challenge.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026

Bass sent USC President Beong-Soo Kim a letter this week urging him to drop the university’s legal challenge to a June vote to form a union and to “bargain in good faith.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

"What we want is to know that we are paying a fair and reasonable amount, and here we have nowhere we can challenge this."

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026

Meghan faces a particularly tough challenge in reassimilating to life in Britain, where she remains unpopular.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

We were about to have our next challenge.

From "Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat" by Johnny Marciano and Emily Chenoweth

Its programming ranges from sketch comedy to games and challenges for their fans.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

For analysts at Morgan Stanley, headed by Joseph Moore, Broadcom’s results were “impressive,” but they highlighted some challenges for the stock, including worries over the company’s market share in the tensor processing unit sector.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026

Reports about food and conditions on ship don’t grapple with the challenges of ferrying fresh lettuce into a combat zone.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

Finding such an enormous scorpion so early in the history of terrestrial life challenges traditional ideas about why prehistoric arthropods sometimes evolved to gigantic sizes.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 2, 2026

Supreme Court had grown impatient with challenges to capital punishment.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

It lost nine million daily users of its core social-media app in North America over the last three years, and an activist investor earlier this year challenged its strategy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

A group of transgender service members and prospective recruits challenged the policy under the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.

From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2026

“We’re going to need the depth of this roster,” Riley said, “and we obviously challenged that in the fourth quarter, and obviously didn’t respond the way we wanted.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026

The researchers challenged a study published last year claiming the growth of the universe is slowing.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 29, 2026

I’d challenged with my hands on my hips.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

The Fugitive Slave Law created a crisis for abolitionists such as the Quakers, challenging their conviction that the struggle against slavery must be nonviolent.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

“Given the challenging market conditions in China and the U.S., we are prioritizing protecting transaction prices over volume growth,” said Chief Commercial Officer Erik Severinson.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

She did eventually reach the milestone in a fifth-wicket stand of 84 with Leah Paul, but England's approach showed they would have needed a total beyond 300 to be challenging.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

Despite typical first-time buyers navigating a challenging housing market in recent years, a growing number of young adults have been able to become homeowners.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026

On my parents' end, they couldn't understand why I was making an already challenging situation worse.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

Related Words

• ask for
• assert
• call for
• claim
• confront
• defy
• demand
• denounce
• impose
• require
• test
• try