Contend

How to spell contend

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce contend

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does contend mean?

1. verbTo compete, struggle, or strive in order to achieve or overcome something.
2. verbTo assert or maintain something firmly, especially in an argument or dispute.

Contend in a sentence

• Three local firms now contend for the same council contract.

• The lawyers contend that the original contract was never valid.

• Hikers on the ridge had to contend with sudden gusts of wind.

• Critics contend that the new policy will raise costs for everyone.

Where does contend come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Contend comes from the Latin verb contendere, which combined con- meaning 'together' or 'with' and tendere meaning 'to stretch' or 'to strain'. The literal image is of two parties stretching against each other, straining their forces, which is exactly why the word carries the sense of struggling, competing, or fighting hard. From that physical idea of pulling and straining grew the more abstract notion of arguing a point vigorously, since to contend in debate is to push your claim against an opponent's. English borrowed the word in the fifteenth century, partly through Old French and partly straight from the Latin, keeping the -tend root that it shares with relatives like 'tension', 'extend', and 'intend'. Remembering that tend root, the same stretching idea behind 'tense' muscles, helps fix the spelling of the ending.

How the word is built

• con- (together, with)
• tend (to stretch, strive, from Latin tendere)