contention
Syllables: con·ten·tion/kənˈtɛnʃən/
contention noun: argument, contest, debate, strife, struggle.
Noun
contention (countable and uncountable, plural contentions)
- Argument, contest, debate, strife, struggle.
- A point maintained in an argument, or a line of argument taken in its support; the subject matter of discussion of strife; a position taken or contended for.
- It is my contention that state lotteries are taxes on stupid people.
- The multiplicity of moral opinions is an empirical fact and does not invalidate the contention that there is only one morality par excellence.1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in...
- Competition by parts of a system or its users for a limited resource.
contention meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
contention in Tamil
- வாதம், கருத்து முடிவு, கருத்து முரண்பாடு, போட்டியிடு
contention in Urdu
- دعویٰ, حجت, لڑائی, نزاع
contention in Bengali
- বিতর্ক, দাবি
contention in Malayalam
- പിണക്കം, തർക്കം, വാദം
More languagesFewer languages
- contention in Kannada
- ಜಗಳ, ತೋಟಿ, ವಾದವಿವಾದ, ಕಲಹಕಾರಣ
- contention in Arabic
- جِدَال jidāl
Examples of contention in a sentence
- The runner had high hopes, but was out of contention after the first heat.
- The border land between England and Scotland, being formerly a subject of contention, was called "batable ground".
- It is still a bone of contention whether to go ahead with the original plan in light of the new evidence.
Synonyms of contention
Forms of contention
| plural | contentions |
|---|
Origin of contention
From Middle English contencion, borrowed from Old French contencion, from Latin contentio, contentionem, from contendō (past participle contentus); equivalent to contend + -tion (similar formation to attention).
Words formed from contention
- bone of contention
- contentional
- contention system
- in contention
- noncontention
- point of contention
- resource contention
Phrases with contention
Questions about contention
- What does contention mean?
- Contention means argument, contest, debate, strife, struggle.
- What is contention in Tamil?
- Contention in Tamil is வாதம், கருத்து முடிவு, கருத்து முரண்பாடு. See Contention meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is contention?
- Contention is a noun.
- How do you pronounce contention?
- Contention is pronounced /kənˈtɛnʃən/.
- What is the plural of contention?
- The plural of contention is contentions.
Words near contention in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: contention (page history and authors); contention (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); contention (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); contention (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); contention (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); contention (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-contention.wav.
Cite this entry: “contention.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/contention. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.