CONTESTED
contested
(adjective) disputed or made the object of contention or competition; “a contested election”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Adjective
contested (comparative more contested, superlative most contested)
controversial; contentious; debated
Verb
contested
simple past tense and past participle of contest
Source: Wiktionary
CONTEST
Con*test", v. t. [imp. & p.p. Contested; p.pr. & vb.n. Contesting.]
Etym: [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.
The people . . . contested not what was done. Locke.
Few philosophical aphorisms have been more frequenty repeated, few
more contested than this. J. D. Morell.
2. To strive earnestly to hold or maintain; to struggle to defend;
as, the troops contested every inch of ground.
3. (Law)
Definition: To make a subject of litigation; to defend, as a suit; to
dispute or resist; as a claim, by course of law; to controvert. 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.
Con*test", v. i.
Definition: To engage in contention, or emulation; to contend; to strive;
to vie; to emulate; -- followed usually by with.
The difficulty of an argument adds to the pleasure of contesting with
in, when there are hopes of victory. Bp. Burnet.
Of man, who dares in pomp with Jove contest Pope.
Con"test, n.
1. Earnest dispute; strife in argument; controversy; debate;
altercation.
Leave all noisy contests, all immodest clamors and brawling language.
I. Watts.
2. Earnest struggle for superiority, victory, defense, etc.;
competition; emulation; strife in arms; conflict; combat; encounter.
The late battle had, in effect, been a contest between one usurper
and another. Hallam.
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.
– 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition