The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - contest n.

1) competition, match, tournament, championship, tourney, meet, game, rivalry, trial: The contest was won by a woman from Shropshire. 2) strife, controversy, dispute, contention, debate, altercation, argument, velitation; conflict, struggle, fight, battle, combat, war: The contest is between those for and those against capital punishment. --v. 3) contend, argue, dispute, debate; challenge, (call into) question, oppose, counter, confute, object to, refute: David has decided to contest his father's will.