Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1400-1500
Language: Old French
Origin: contendre, from Latin contendere, from com- ( COM-) + tendere 'to stretch'

contend

 verb
     
con‧tend
1 [intransitive] to compete against someone in order to gain something
contend for
Three armed groups are contending for power.
Inevitably, fights break out between the members of contending groups.
2 [transitive] to argue or state that something is true
contend (that)
Some astronomers contend that the universe may be younger than previously thought.

contend with something

phrasal verb
to have to deal with something difficult or unpleasant:
The rescue team also had bad weather conditions to contend with.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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