Contest vs. Challenge — What's the Difference?

An event in which people compete for supremacy in a sport or other activity, or in a quality

A call to someone to participate in a competitive situation or fight to decide who is superior in terms of ability or strength

Engage in competition to attain (a position of power)

A call to prove or justify something

Oppose (an action or theory) as mistaken or wrong

Exposure of the immune system to pathogenic organisms or antigens

A struggle for superiority or victory between rivals

Dispute the truth or validity of

A competition, especially one in which entrants perform separately and are rated by judges

Invite (someone) to engage in a contest

To compete or strive for; struggle to gain or control

Expose (the immune system) to pathogenic organisms or antigens.

To call into question and take an active stand against; dispute or challenge

A call to engage in a contest, fight, or competition

(Sports) To defend against (a shot), as in basketball.

An act or statement of defiance; a call to confrontation

To struggle or compete; contend

A demand for explanation or justification; a calling into question

(uncountable) Controversy; debate.

A sentry's call to an unknown party for proper identification.

(uncountable) Struggle for superiority; combat.

A test of one's abilities or resources in a demanding but stimulating undertaking

(countable) A competition.

A claim that a vote is invalid or that a voter is unqualified.

(intransitive) To contend.

A formal objection to the inclusion of a prospective juror in a jury.

(transitive) To call into question; to oppose.

A legal case testing the validity of an action taken, particularly by the government.

(transitive) To strive earnestly to hold or maintain; to struggle to defend.

(Immunology) The induction or evaluation of an immune response in an organism by administration of a specific antigen to which it has been sensitized.

(law) To make a subject of litigation; to defend, as a suit; to dispute or resist, as a claim, by course of law.

To call to engage in a contest, fight, or competition

To make a subject of dispute, contention, litigation, or emulation; to contend for; to call in question; to controvert; to oppose; to dispute.

To invite with defiance; dare

To strive earnestly to hold or maintain; to struggle to defend; as, the troops contested every inch of ground.

To confront or struggle with (something) as a test of one's abilities

To make a subject of litigation; to defend, as a suit; to dispute or resist; as a claim, by course of law; to controvert.

To take exception to; call into question; dispute

To engage in contention, or emulation; to contend; to strive; to vie; to emulate; - followed usually by with.

To order to halt and be identified, as by a sentry.

Earnest dispute; strife in argument; controversy; debate; altercation.

To take formal objection to (a prospective juror).

Earnest struggle for superiority, victory, defense, etc.; competition; emulation; strife in arms; conflict; combat; encounter.

To bring a legal case testing the validity of an action, particularly by the government.

An occasion on which a winner is selected from among two or more contestants

To question the qualifications of (a voter) or the validity of (a vote).

A struggle between rivals

To have due claim to; call for

To make the subject of dispute, contention, or litigation;

To summon to action, effort, or use; stimulate

(Immunology) To induce or evaluate an immune response in (an organism) by administering a specific antigen to which it has been sensitized.

To make or give voice to a challenge.

To begin barking upon picking up the scent. Used of hunting dogs.

A confrontation; a dare.

An antagonization or instigation intended to convince a person to perform an action they otherwise would not.

A bid to overcome something.

(sports) An attempt to take possession; a tackle.

A summons to fight a duel; also, the letter or message conveying the summons.

The act of a sentry in halting a person and demanding the countersign, or (by extension) the action of a computer system demanding a password, etc.

An attempt to have a work of literature restricted or removed from a public library or school curriculum.

A difficult task, especially one that the person making the attempt finds more enjoyable because of that difficulty.

(legal) A procedure or action.

A judge's interest in the result of a case, constituting grounds for them to not be allowed to sit the case (e.g., a conflict of interest).

The act of appealing a ruling or decision of a court of administrative agency.

The act of seeking to remove a judge, arbitrator, or other judicial or semi-judicial figure for reasons of alleged bias or incapacity.

(US) An act of seeking to have a certain person be declared not legally qualified to vote, made when the person offers their ballot.

(hunting) The opening and crying of hounds upon first finding the scent of their game.

(transitive) To invite (someone) to take part in a competition.

(transitive) To dare (someone).

(transitive) To dispute (something).

To call something into question or dispute.

To make a formal objection to a juror.

(transitive) To be difficult or challenging for.

To claim as due; to demand as a right.

To censure; to blame.

To question or demand the countersign from (one who attempts to pass the lines).

To object to the reception of the vote of, e.g. on the ground that the person is not qualified as a voter.

To take (a final exam) in order to get credit for a course without taking it.

An invitation to engage in a contest or controversy of any kind; a defiance; specifically, a summons to fight a duel; also, the letter or message conveying the summons.

The act of a sentry in halting any one who appears at his post, and demanding the countersign.

A claim or demand.

The opening and crying of hounds at first finding the scent of their game.

An exception to a juror or to a member of a court martial, coupled with a demand that he should be held incompetent to act; the claim of a party that a certain person or persons shall not sit in trial upon him or his cause.

An exception to a person as not legally qualified to vote. The challenge must be made when the ballot is offered.

To call to a contest of any kind; to call to answer; to defy.

To call, invite, or summon to answer for an offense by personal combat.

To claim as due; to demand as a right.

To censure; to blame.

To question or demand the countersign from (one who attempts to pass the lines); as, the sentinel challenged us, with "Who comes there?"

To take exception to; question; as, to challenge the accuracy of a statement or of a quotation.

To object to or take exception to, as to a juror, or member of a court.

To object to the reception of the vote of, as on the ground that the person in not qualified as a voter.

To assert a right; to claim a place.

A demanding or stimulating situation;

A call to engage in a contest or fight

Questioning a statement and demanding an explanation;

A formal objection to the selection of a particular person as a juror

A demand by a sentry for a password or identification

Take exception to;

Issue a challenge to;

Ask for identification;

Raise a formal objection in a court of law