contention
/kənˈtɛnʃ(ə)n
/noun
1 [mass noun] Heated disagreement: the captured territory was the main area of contention between the two countries...
- Sea power's dominance, however, has been a point of contention among military historians.
- Another area of much contention is the desired level of channel control sought by the manufacturer.
- The basis for this contention among British doctors seems even more tenuous.
Synonyms
disagreement, dispute, disputation, argument, variance;
discord, hostility, conflict, friction, acrimony, enmity, strife, dissension, disharmony, quarrelling, feuding
2 [count noun] An assertion, especially one maintained in argument: Freud’s contention that all dreams were wish fulfilment...
- I am not saying you do not have arguments against the contentions the applicant would wish to make.
- But to this point, the administration has offered few direct answers to the particular contentions of the critics.
- We say that if it is necessary, the second respondent in its argument has raised a contention.
Synonyms
argument, claim, plea, submission, allegation;
opinion, stand, position, view, belief, thesis, hypothesis, case, postulation;
declaration, assertion, affirmation, pronouncement, announcement, statement
Phrases
in (or out of) contention
Origin
Late Middle English: from Latin contentio(n-), from contendere 'strive with' (see contend).
comes from Latin contendere ‘strive with’. Contender (mid 16th century) was originally a fighter rather than a competitor, a sense immortalized in I could have been a contender, spoken by Marlon Brando in the 1954 film On the Waterfront.