as in dispute
variance of opinion on a matter
the statement is certainly open to contestation among reasonable people
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of contestation
After the conclusion of one set of political contestations, new challenges emerge: after World War II came the Cold War, for example.
—
Jonathan Kirshner, Foreign Affairs, 22 Jan. 2025
After Germany occupied Norway in 1940 and Adolf Hitler’s troops invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, Svalbard became a key point of military contestation.
—James Patton Rogers & Caroline Kennedy Pipe / Made By History , TIME, 23 Jan. 2025
What that does is take these decisions out of the space of democratic contestation.
—Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 8 Jan. 2025
His book outlines the dominance of white masculinity in presidential politics since the birth of our nation, and the ways in contestations over masculinity are evident in its most prominent political contests.
—Kelly Dittmar, Forbes, 30 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for contestation
Jonathan Kirshner, Foreign Affairs, 22 Jan. 2025
After Germany occupied Norway in 1940 and Adolf Hitler’s troops invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, Svalbard became a key point of military contestation.
—James Patton Rogers & Caroline Kennedy Pipe / Made By History , TIME, 23 Jan. 2025
What that does is take these decisions out of the space of democratic contestation.
—Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 8 Jan. 2025
His book outlines the dominance of white masculinity in presidential politics since the birth of our nation, and the ways in contestations over masculinity are evident in its most prominent political contests.
—Kelly Dittmar, Forbes, 30 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for contestation
Recent Examples of Synonyms for contestation
Noun
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Phan was convicted of shooting up a high school graduation party after a dispute, killing an 18-year-old and a 15-year-old.—
Greg Wehner , Bill Melugin,
FOXNews.com,
9 June 2025
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Officials from the United States and China met in London to talk about a range of different disputes that are separating them.—
Stan Choe,
Los Angeles Times,
9 June 2025
Noun
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At the heart of the controversy over Iran’s nuclear program is its enrichment of uranium – a process used to produce fuel for power plants that, at higher levels, can also be used to make a nuclear bomb.—
Mostafa Salem,
CNN Money,
13 June 2025
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Read Next Before payment controversy, Chief Johnny Jennings made progressive strides at CMPD June 6, 2025 11:23 AM This story was originally published June 13, 2025 at 5:00 AM.—
Maia Nehme,
Charlotte Observer,
13 June 2025
Noun
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Jake is a single father who has brought Kristen up in the severe Calvinist tradition, marked by Bible disputations of Talmudic intricacy and by a radical detachment from secular and popular culture.—
Richard Brody,
The New Yorker,
8 Sep. 2023
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Seven decades later, this culture of disputation emerged as a central theme in Timothy Garton Ash’s The Magic Lantern, his eyewitness report on the Eastern European revolutions of 1989.—
Susie Linfield,
The New York Review of Books,
11 May 2022
Noun
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This is thematically tied to the internal debate at Arsenal over the No 9 position.—
James McNicholas,
New York Times,
6 June 2025
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Now, those choices are reshaping national debates over who holds power on campus and what higher education should protect.—
Dalia Faheid,
CNN Money,
5 June 2025
Noun
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Ordinary disagreements are now seen as grounds to capriciously immiserate and ruin lives, and failing that, to intimidate state leaders into capitulation.—
David Faris,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 June 2025
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In August 2021, Superfly terminated Mayers’ position at the company following internal disagreements with the three other co-founders of the entertainment company.—
Nina Corcoran,
Pitchfork,
10 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Contestation.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/contestation. Accessed 18 Jun. 2025.
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