contention

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Act of contending

Nouns

1. (act of contending) contention, strife, contest, contestation, altercation, infighting; struggle; belligerency, pugnacity, combativeness (see irascibility); competition, rivalry; litigation (see lawsuit); opposition; bone of contention.

2. (verbal contention) controversy, polemics (see discord, reasoning). Slang, busting.

3. (group contention) battle, conflict, face-off, skirmish, dogfight, row, mixup; encounter, rencontre, rencounter; collision, affair, brush, fight; battle royal, pitched battle, casus belli, warfare; combat, action, engagement, joust, tournament; tilt[ing], tourney, list; death struggle, Armageddon; fracas, clash of arms; tussle, scuffle, brawl, fray; street fight; melée, scrimmage, bush-fighting; naval engagement, sea fight. Informal, set-to, free-for-all. Slang, shindy, scrap, run-in, hassle, dingdong, rumble, fist junction, gin. See opposition.

4. (one on one contention) duel, single combat, monomachy; feud, vendetta; satisfaction, passage of arms, affair of honor.

5. sports, games of skill, gymkhana, Olympics, round robin, tug-of-war; match, race, relay race, foot race, dash, hurdles, Iditarod; athletics, gymnastics, etc.

6. life-or-death struggle, all-out or total war, fight to the death, last-ditch effort.

7. contender, contestant, competitor, competer, entry; militant; soldier (see combatant).

Verbs

1. contend, contest, oppose, strive, struggle, fight, combat, battle, engage, skirmish; make something of; contend, grapple, or close with; try conclusions with, have a brush with, join issue, start something, come to blows, fall to, be at loggerheads, set to, come to scratch, meet hand to hand.

2. wrangle, scramble, wrestle, spar, exchange blows or fisticuffs, square off, pitch into, tussle, scuffle, tilt, box, stave, fence, encounter, take on, lay or light into, fall foul of, cross or measure swords, lock horns with; take up cudgels, the glove, or the gauntlet, enter the lists, couch one's lance; shoot it out; give satisfaction; lay about one, break the peace, lift one's hand against. Informal, pitch into. Slang, [put up a] scrap, rumble.

3. compete, cope, vie, or race with; contend for, run a race. Slang, drag. See sports.

Adjectives — contending, at loggerheads, at cross purposes, at war, at swords' points, at issue; competitive, rival, cutthroat; belligerent; contentious, combative, bellicose, unpeaceful, on the warpath; warlike (see warfare); quarrelsome, pugnacious; pugilistic, fistic.

Phrases — it takes two to make a quarrel.

Quotations — There is no good in arguing with the inevitable (James Russell Lowell), Making noise is an effective means of opposition (Joseph Goebbels).

Antonyms, see pacification.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [Conflict]

Syn. strife, controversy, dispute, competition; see battle 2 , competition 1 , discord 1 , dispute , fight 1 .

2. [An assertion supported by argument]

Syn. stand, ground, assertion, allegation, claim, avowal, asseveration, explanation, predication, profession, deposition, advancement, discussion, charge, plea, demurrer; see also declaration 1 .

See Synonym Study at discord , fight .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

1. dispute argument, disagreement, debate, controversy, squabble, altercation, fight, wrangling, *beef, *bone to pick, quarrel.

2. striving struggle, contest, battle, fight.

3. assertion point, stand, claim, opinion, belief, view, plea.

ANT.: 1. agreement, accord, harmony

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. A discussion, often heated, in which a difference of opinion is expressed: altercation, argument, bicker, clash, controversy, debate, difficulty, disagreement, dispute, fight, polemic, quarrel, run-in, spat, squabble, tiff, word (used in plural), wrangle. Informal: hassle, rhubarb, tangle. See CONFLICT. 2. A state of disagreement and disharmony: clash, conflict, confrontation, difference, difficulty, disaccord, discord, discordance, dissension, dissent, dissentience, dissidence, dissonance, faction, friction, inharmony, schism, strife, variance, war, warfare. See CONFLICT. 3. A hypothetical controversial proposition: contestation, thesis. See OPINION.