English → Latin
“contention” in Latin
concertātiōcontroversy, dispute; wranglingcertātiōstriving, strife, combatcertāmenA contest, race, struggle, strife.; A battle, engagement, combat.; An object contended for, prize.contentiōstretching, tension; competition, rivalry; struggle, effortdisceptātiōdispute, disputation, debate, discussionpugnaa fight, battle, combat, action; a line of battle, troops drawn up for battle; a contest, dispute, quarrelcontrōversiaa quarrel, dispute, debate; lawsuit; contradictionaltercātiōdispute, debate; altercationiūrgiuma quarrel, strife, dispute, altercation, contention; abuse, invective; a legal dispute, a separation between husband andrixaquarrel, brawl, dispute, contest, strife, contention
The English word contention itself goes back to Latin tendō, through contentio.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
contention
concertatio (the reciprocal exertions of two persons to conquer each other in argument): certatio (dispute in general, as act; also before a court): certamen (contest with words, as event): contentio (carried on violently): disceptatio (a discussion for the purpose of arriving, e.g., at the real truth ofanything; also before a court): pugna (between litterati in matters of opinion, as Cic., De Divin., 2, 51, near the beginning: hic quanta pugna est doctissimorum hominum): controversia (the dispute, in as far as each believes himself in the right; also before a court; and, in general, a litterary dispute): altercatio (any violent discussion, but especially a dispute arising from difference of opinion, and which, at times, is carried on from mere obstinacy, and mostly with heat): jurgium (dispute accompanied with abusive, insulting words): rixa (violent dispute, on trifles especially; attended by menaces, and even acts of violence): lis (in standard prose only of a suit before a court). To cause contention, controversiam facere (as well of the thing as of the person that causes it): causam jurgii inferre (to get up a quarrel; of the author). [Vid :, also, DISPUTE, QUARREL.]
Emulation, zeal, aemulatio: studium: certamen: an honorable contention, honesta certatio: to enter into a contention with anybody, in certamen cum aliquo descendere. [Vid: ZEAL.]
Contentiousness, Vid.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for contention?
- The usual Latin words for “contention” are concertātiō, certātiō, certāmen; also contentiō, disceptātiō, pugna. 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.