contender

noun

con·tend·er | \ kən-ˈten-dər

Definition of contender

: one that contends especially : a competitor for a championship or high honor a heavyweight title contender the leading presidential contenders

Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about contender

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Examples of contender in a Sentence

There are several contestants, but only two real contenders. This latest defeat means that she's no longer a contender for the world title.

Recent Examples on the Web

To varying degrees of success, that seems to be the playbook the 2020 contenders are following. — Philip Elliott / Portsmouth, Time, "2020 Snapshot: New Hampshire, Seven Months Out," 16 July 2019 Adding insult to injury was that while he was being extracted from the tire barriers, his fellow championship contenders — Pagenaud, Scott Dixon, Alexander Rossi and Newgarden — were finishing 1-2-3-4. — Jim Ayello, Indianapolis Star, "IndyCar: Penske star Will Power beats himself up after 'really bad mistakes' in Toronto," 14 July 2019 Load management was first utilized by the San Antonio Spurs, an annual contender with an aging core of players, during their run of five NBA titles in the last 20 years. — Broderick Turner, latimes.com, "Anthony Davis and LeBron James present one new concern for Lakers," 14 July 2019 The variety talk category is always competitive, and voters have been known to banish contenders for missteps. — Glenn Whipp, chicagotribune.com, "Emmys 2019: Five things to watch for ahead of nominations next week," 13 July 2019 This sounds more like the Hammers are being used as leverage and not actual contenders for the man who netted 17 times in La Liga last term. — SI.com, "Transfer Rumours: Man Utd Close on Maguire Alternative, Spurs Chase £30m Leeds Midfielder & More," 13 July 2019 Lizzo’s songs feel like instant song-of-the-summer contenders. — oregonlive.com, "Right now Lizzo is everywhere; next week she’ll be at Edgefield," 12 July 2019 Can any contender really hope to hide their two best players on defense and win it all? — Ben Golliver, courant.com, "Rockets reunite Harden and Westbrook, trading old problems for new ones," 12 July 2019 While several contenders loaded up, the Golden State Warriors took a step back. — Parth Upadhyaya, The Denver Post, "NBA summer madness: Ranking the Western Conference after a wild 10 days," 11 July 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'contender.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.