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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Contest \Con*test"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Contested}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Contesting}.] [F. contester, fr. L. contestari to
call to witness, contestari litem to introduce a lawsuit by
calling witnesses, to bring an action; con- testari to be a
witness, testic witness. See {Testify}.]
1. To make a subject of dispute, contention, litigation, or
emulation; to contend for; to call in question; to
controvert; to oppose; to dispute.
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The people . . . contested not what was done.
--Locke.
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Few philosophical aphorisms have been more frequenty
repeated, few more contested than this. --J. D.
Morell.
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2. To strive earnestly to hold or maintain; to struggle to
defend; as, the troops contested every inch of ground.
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3. (Law) To make a subject of litigation; to defend, as a
suit; to dispute or resist; as a claim, by course of law;
to controvert.
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{To contest an election}. (Polit.)
(a) To strive to be elected.
(b) To dispute the declared result of an election.

Syn: To dispute; controvert; debate; litigate; oppose; argue;
contend.
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Contest \Con*test"\, v. i.
To engage in contention, or emulation; to contend; to strive;
to vie; to emulate; -- followed usually by with.
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The difficulty of an argument adds to the pleasure of
contesting with it, when there are hopes of victory.
--Bp. Burnet.
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Of man, who dares in pomp with Jove contest? --Pope.
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Contest \Con"test\, n.
1. Earnest dispute; strife in argument; controversy; debate;
altercation.
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Leave all noisy contests, all immodest clamors and
brawling language. --I. Watts.
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2. Earnest struggle for superiority, victory, defense, etc.;
competition; emulation; strife in arms; conflict; combat;
encounter.
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The late battle had, in effect, been a contest
between one usurper and another. --Hallam.
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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.

Usage: {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.
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