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
-
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:
The reboot of the singing contest could include ex-judge Simon Cowell, the paper says.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
But despite the fast start from the hosts, New Zealand grew into the contest, with referee Angus Gardner, himself a late call-up in place of Nika Amashukeli, presiding over a fast and fluent game.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
“All those drag queens, sometimes I see some of them look more like me than I do,” said the star, who famously lost a Dolly Parton lookalike contest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
She once quietly entered a Dolly Parton drag queen look-alike contest -- and lost.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
It was clear Specimen considered Jeremy's banishment from the contest fair punishment for getting the class in trouble to begin with.
From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville
The kids who lose these contests aren’t chosen at random.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
The family’s future is in limbo as Jeanie Buss contests her five siblings’ plans to sell their remaining stake of the team.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Palm Beach County voting records cited by US media show Trump requested a ballot in late July and returned it last week for the contests in his adopted home state.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
Prediction-market operators argue that wagers on football games and other contests are merely event contracts governed exclusively by federal commodities law.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
There were lawyers who knew more about the rules of proxy contests, but no one was better in a fight than Joe Flom...
From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
It is unclear whether the Louisiana ruling covering Hendrick’s transfer will be contested.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026
Yabloko was founded in the early 1990s during Russia’s short-lived experiment with real democracy, when a rambunctious form of politics emerged and dozens of fledgling parties contested power.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
Russian-Japanese relations have long been dogged by the contested islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and seized by the Soviet Union in 1945.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
In 2022, Leavitt unsuccessfully ran for Congress in New Hampshire, emerging victorious from a contested Republican primary, but ultimately losing to Democrat Chris Pappas.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Both declines have been laid to drought, but this is contested.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Randy Mastro, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, filed a letter on Tuesday contesting the automatic stay and maintaining that the court’s emergency pause is still in effect.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 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
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
The company denies the claims and is contesting the action in the High Court.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
This reshaping of events happens in a dozen ways every day, contesting reality.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
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.
