Chapter Conterminable to Continual of C by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

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.

Contestable
(Con*test"a*ble) a. [Cf. F. contestable.] Capable of being contested; debatable.

Contestant
(Con*test"ant) n. [Cf. F. contestant.] One who contests; an opponent; a litigant; a disputant; one who claims that which has been awarded to another.

Contestation
(Con`tes*ta"tion) n. [L. contestatio testimony: cf. F. contestation a contesting.]

1. The act of contesting; emulation; rivalry; strife; dispute. "Loverlike contestation." Milton.

After years spent in domestic, unsociable contestations, she found means to withdraw.
Clarendon.

2. Proof by witness; attestation; testimony. [Obs.]

A solemn contestation ratified on the part of God.
Barrow.

Contestingly
(Con*test"ing*ly) adv. In a contending manner.

Contex
(Con*tex) v. t. To context. [Obs.] Boyle.

Context
(Con*text") a. [L. contextus, p. p. of contexere to weave, to unite; con- + texere to weave. See Text.] Knit or woven together; close; firm. [Obs.]

The coats, without, are context and callous.
Derham.

Context
(Con"text) n. [L. contextus; cf. F. contexte .] The part or parts of something written or printed, as of Scripture, which precede or follow a text or quoted sentence, or are so intimately associated with it as to throw light upon its meaning.

According to all the light that the contexts afford.
Sharp.

Context
(Con*text") v. t. To knit or bind together; to unite closely. [Obs.] Feltham.

The whole world's frame, which is contexted only by commerce and contracts.
R. Junius.