- contest
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2 *resist, withstand, oppose, fight, combat, conflict, antagonizecontest n Contest, conflict, combat, fight, affray, fray denote a battle between opposing forces for supremacy, for power, or for possessions.Contest is the broadest term; originally it referred solely to strife in argument but it is now applicable to any struggle, whether friendly or hostile, for a common object that involves a test of ability, strength, endurance, or strategic skill{
a swimming contest
}{a contest of wits
}{what mighty contests rise from trivial things— Pope
}{boundary controversies or other contests between states— Frankfurter
}Conflict implies discord and warfare; it also suggests a closer engagement than contest{arms on armor clashing brayed . . . dire was the noise of conflict— Milton
}Conflict may be extended to denote a struggle (often spiritual or mental) between opposing or contradictory principles or forces{there is [in a Shakespearean tragedy] an outward conflict of persons and groups, there is also a conflict of forces in the hero's soul— Bradley
}Combat is less commonly used in an extended sense{a combat against despair
}It implies an encounter, especially an armed encounter, between two (individuals, parties, or forces), frequently for the determination of a dispute{let these have a day appointed them for a single combat in convenient place— Shak.
}{these progressive leaders in both parties rose only after bitter struggle. They were the product of more than a lively contest. Sometimes the contests were combats— White
}Fight usually implies a hand-to-hand conflict and therefore emphasizes the individual participants. It ranges in dignity from a spiritual struggle{fight the good fight of faith—/ Tim 6:12
}to actual blows with fists or weapons{a prizefight
}Affray commonly refers to a tumultuous disturbance (as a street fight between mobs or factions) that inspires terror. Legally an affray is a fight that disturbs the public peace; in literary use the word is often applied to an unseemly or acrimonious dispute{the suppressing of riots and affrays— Burke
}{days of European crises, diplomatic affrays, hecatombic accidents— Montague
}{some bloody affray between scholars— Quiller-Couch
}Fray is usually either a literary term, often with more dignified connotations than affray of which it is otherwise a very close synonym, or it is a poetic or hyperbolical substitute for battle, contest, or game{"Where are the vile beginners of this fray?" "O noble prince, I can discover all the unlucky manage of this fatal brawl"— Shak.
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.