contend

Borrowed from Old French contendre, from Latin contendere (“to stretch out, extend, strive after, contend”), from com- (“together”) + tendere (“to stretch”); see tend, and compare attend, extend, intend, subtend.

• IPA^(key): /kənˈtɛnd/
• Rhymes: -ɛnd

contend (third-person singular simple present contends, present participle contending, simple past and past participle contended)

1. To strive in opposition; to contest; to dispute; to vie; to quarrel; to fight.
   • 1611, King James Version, Deuteronomy ii. 9

     The Lord said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle.

   • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:

2. To struggle or exert oneself to obtain or retain possession of, or to defend.
   • (Can we date this quote by Dryden?)

     You sit above, and see vain men below / Contend for what you only can bestow.

3. To strive in debate; to engage in discussion; to dispute; to argue.
   • (Can we date this quote by John Locke?)

     The question which our author would contend for.

   • (Can we date this quote by Dr H. More?)

     Many things he fiercely contended about were trivial.

• struggle, fight, combat, vie, strive, oppose, emulate, contest, litigate, dispute, debate

• contender
• contention
• contentious

• contend in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• contend in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.