Contest

Contest Con"test, n. 1. Earnest dispute; strife in argument; controversy; debate; altercation. [1913 Webster]

Leave all noisy contests, all immodest clamors and brawling language. --I. Watts. [1913 Webster]

2. Earnest struggle for superiority, victory, defense, etc.; competition; emulation; strife in arms; conflict; combat; encounter. [1913 Webster]

The late battle had, in effect, been a contest between one usurper and another. --Hallam. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]