English → Latin
“contend” in Latin
impugnōto attack, fight against; to impugn, assailoppugnōto attack, assault, storm, besiegeaffirmōto present (something) as fixed, firm, or true; affirm, assert, maintain; to strengthen, confirm, corroborate; to make ccōnfirmōto make firm, establish, re-establish, strengthen, fortify, mature, confirm; to encourage, animate, embolden; persuade; assevērōto do any thing with earnestness, pursue earnestly; to be serious; to assert, declare positively, affirm; to make known,volōto wish, to please; to want; to mean, to intendcontendōto hurry; to stretch, draw tight, make taut, strain; to place together in comparison, compare, contrastdēfendōto drive away; to defend, guard or protect, to stand up for, to stick up foraiōto say, speak, assert, say “yes”, affirm (also in reply); to say, argueconcertōto fight or contend; to dispute or debate
The English word contend itself goes back to Latin tendō, through contendere.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
contend
Cic., with = fight [Vid: To COMBAT].
FIGURATIVELY (in argument), impugnare, oppugnare. To contend against anybody’s views, alicujus opinioni repugnare: certare cum aliquo de aliqua re (to endeavour to get the better of an antagonist in argument): concertare (of two endeavouring to do so alternately, cum aliquo de aliqua re): contendere verbis or jurgio (contend violently, in a quarrelsome manner, cum aliquo): decertare (to bring to a decision by argument or words): altercari cum aliquo (to have an altercation with anybody): controversiam habere (to have a dispute or difference, before a court or elsewhere), with anybody, cum aliquo, about anything, de aliqua re (e.g., de fundo, de hereditate): litigare (to be involved in a dispute, generally and before a court, cum aliquo de aliqua re): disceptare, also with verbis (to have a dispute, discuss with a view to discover the truth, or ascertain what is right; with anybody, cum aliquo, about anything, de aliqua re): rixari (cum aliquo, to quarrel with anybody): jurgio contendere cum aliquo: jurgiis certare [Vid: To QUARREL]: to contend for and against, disputare in contrarias partes, or in utramque partem: to contend neither for nor against, in nullam partem disputare: to contend for anything, pro re pugnare. [Vid :, also, DISCUSS, DISPUTE.]
Maintain, affirmare: [not asserere]: confirmare: asseverare: velle: contendere, defendere: aio. To contend that anything is not so, negare, with accusative and infinitive (e.g., Democritus negat sine furore quemquam poetam magnum esse posse, Cic.). [SYN. in ASSERT.]
CONTEND FOR; Vid: STRIVE (for).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for contend?
- The usual Latin words for “contend” are impugnō, oppugnō, affirmō; also cōnfirmō, assevērō, volō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.