contest

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
contest

▶noun /ˈkɒntɛst/ an event in which people compete for supremacy.

■ a dispute or conflict.

▶verb /kənˈtɛst/ 

• 1 compete to attain (a position of power).

  ■ take part in (a competition or election).

• 2 challenge or dispute.

– phrases
no contest

• 1 chiefly US another term for nolo contendere.

• 2 a decision to declare a boxing match invalid on the grounds that one or both of the boxers are not making serious efforts.

  ■ a competition or comparison of which the outcome is a foregone conclusion.

– derivatives
contestability noun,
contestable adjective,
contester noun.

– origin C16 (as v. ‘swear to, attest’): from L. contestari ‘call upon to witness, initiate an action (by calling witnesses)’, from con- ‘together’ + testare ‘to witness’.