contender

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
contend/kənˈtend/

▶verb

• 1 (contend with/against) struggle to surmount (a difficulty).

  ■ (contend for) engage in a struggle or campaign to achieve.

• 2 assert something as a position in an argument.

– derivatives
contender noun.

– origin ME: from OFr. contendre or L. contendere, from con- ‘with’ + tendere ‘stretch, strive’.