contest

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A struggle for superiority or victory between rivals.
• noun A competition, especially one in which entrants perform separately and are rated by judges.
• intransitive verb To compete or strive for; struggle to gain or control.
• intransitive verb To call into question and take an active stand against; dispute or challenge: synonym: oppose.
• intransitive verb Sports To defend against (a shot), as in basketball.
• intransitive verb To struggle or compete; contend.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To make a subject of emulation, contention, or dispute; enter into a competition for; compete or strive for: as, to contest a prize; to contest an election (see contested).
• To contend or strive for in arms; fight or do battle for; strive to win or hold; struggle to defend: as, the troops contested every inch of ground.
• . To argue in opposition to; controvert; litigate; oppose; call in question; challenge; dispute: as, the advocate contested every point; his right to the property was contested in the courts.
• Synonyms. To debate, challenge.
• . To strive; contend; dispute: followed by with.
• . To vie; strive in rivalry.
• noun . Strife; struggle for victory or superiority, or in defense; a struggle in arms.
• noun . Dispute; debate; controversy; strife in argument; disagreement.
• noun Synonyms Conflict, Combat, etc. (see battle), encounter. See strife.2. Altercation; dissension; quarrel.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• intransitive verb To engage in contention, or emulation; to contend; to strive; to vie; to emulate; -- followed usually by with.
• noun Earnest dispute; strife in argument; controversy; debate; altercation.
• noun Earnest struggle for superiority, victory, defense, etc.; competition; emulation; strife in arms; conflict; combat; encounter.
• transitive verb To make a subject of dispute, contention, litigation, or emulation; to contend for; to call in question; to controvert; to oppose; to dispute.
• transitive verb To strive earnestly to hold or maintain; to struggle to defend.
• transitive verb (Law) To make a subject of litigation; to defend, as a suit; to dispute or resist; as a claim, by course of law; to controvert.
• transitive verb (Polit.) To dispute the declared result of an election.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun uncountable Controversy; debate.
• noun uncountable Struggle for superiority; combat.
• noun countable A competition.
• verb intransitive To contend.
• verb transitive To call into question; to oppose.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun an occasion on which a winner is selected from among two or more contestants
• noun a struggle between rivals
• verb to make the subject of dispute, contention, or litigation