Contender

//kənˈtɛn.dɚ// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Someone who competes with one or more other people.
  2. 2
    the contestant you hope to defeat wordnet
  3. 3
    Someone who has a viable chance of winning a competition.

    "In April 2014, towards the end of Özil’s first season at Arsenal – which had been marked by highs and lows – Wenger predicted the German would be a contender for the player of the year awards in 2014‑15."

Synonyms

All synonyms
competitorrivalantagonistbattlerbelligerentbelted knight

Example

More examples

"You don't understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am."

Etymology

From contend + -er.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.