CONTEND • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Contend

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/kəntˈɛnd/ Listen

verb

Contend v. t. To struggle for; to contest. (R.) "Carthage shall contend the world with Rome.Dryden."

Contend v. i. (past & past part. contended; pres. part. contending)

To strive in opposition; to contest; to dispute; to vie; to quarrel; to fight. "For never two such kingdoms did contend Without much fall of blood." "The Lord said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle." "In ambitious strength I did Contend against thy valor."

To struggle or exert one's self to obtain or retain possession of, or to defend. "You sit above, and see vain men below Contend for what you only can bestow."

To strive in debate; to engage in discussion; to dispute; to argue. "The question which our author would contend for." "Many things he fiercely contended about were trivial."

Synonyms: To struggle; fight; combat; vie; strive; oppose; emulate; contest; litigate; dispute; debate.

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Etymology of 'Contend'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Contend" Quotes from Famous Books

... hands were covered with the sugary fluid that had settled between the copper splinters of the driving bands on the shells and the slivers were slitting his hands. This is a necessary accompaniment that the men passing the shells into the gun have to contend with, and ordinarily it is a sore and painful piece of business, but in conjunction with the swarm of the bees it ...

— S.O.S. Stand to! • Reginald Grant

... is that there is no man of the blood of King Harald Fairhair living, whom the Norsemen could put upon the throne. None such have we to turn to; and for this cause it would little avail any man not kingly born to contend with Earl Hakon." ...

— Olaf the Glorious - A Story of the Viking Age • Robert Leighton

... however needy his own client; for he is then sure of his costs, if he succeed! Again, I cheerfully admit the extreme vulgarity of the motive; but its effect in protecting the legal rights of the humble is not, I contend, lessened because the reward of exertion and success is counted out in good, honest sovereigns, or notes of the Governor and Company of the ...

— The Experiences of a Barrister, and Confessions of an Attorney • Samuel Warren

... forth events which will make a very different spirit necessary for our salvation. Whoever supposes that shouts and hosannahs will terminate the trials of the day, entertains a childish fancy. We must be grossly ignorant of the importance and value of the prize for which we contend; we must be equally ignorant of the power of those who have combined against us; we must be blind to that malice, inveteracy, and insatiable revenge, which actuate our enemies, public and private, abroad and in our bosoms, ...

— The Life of George Washington, Vol. 1 (of 5) • John Marshall

... fine laws, or where the observance of them is of shorter duration. It often happens, that in the first year all are infringed, and in the second, forgotten. Such was the army at this time, and we soon had abundant opportunities to note its incapacity to overcome the enemies with whom we had to contend. ...

— The Memoirs of Louis XIV., His Court and The Regency, Complete • Duc de Saint-Simon

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