contender
Americannoun
-
a person or group that competes against others to win something; contestant.
The three remaining contenders for the Democratic Party nomination met for a televised debate.
-
a person or group with a good chance of success in a contest.
After last season’s disaster, the Texas team needed to convince me they were a contender.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of contender
Explanation
Baseball players, boxers, politicians: each is a contender in that they compete or campaign to win something. Contender has a slightly different meaning than competitor, often implying a more vigorous, even scrappier, sense of taking on every unexpected challenge. The most famous use of contender is Marlon Brando's quote in the film On The Waterfront. Brando plays a once promising boxer whose career has been ruined by a fixed fight. "I coulda been a contender!" Brando cried, implying he could have been the boxer whom everyone wanted to defeat.
Vocabulary lists containing contender
Olympics Vocabulary for Champions
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The Greatest: Muhammad Ali
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Ungifted
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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.
“If we’re going to contend over the course of the season, we have to play better on the road.”
From Washington Times • Sep. 26, 2021
And they have the foundation to contend over the long haul, thanks to the decision to use the first overall pick in the 2010 draft on quarterback Sam Bradford.
From Newsweek • Jan. 3, 2011
Nor is there any evidence that he has ever gone off secretly to contend, over dinner, with the forces of Washington outside the White House.
From Time Magazine Archive
Seldom indeed did these citizens of New Amsterdam become so excited about doctrine as to quarrel over it; they were too well contented with life as it was to contend over the life to be.
From Woman's Life in Colonial Days by Holliday, Carl
Nor does the successful issue of our argument demand that we stop to contend over every error, either in history or argument, made by "Josephites."
From Succession in the Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Roberts, B. H.
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.
