contending (with)

verb

present participle of contend (with)
1
as in addressing
to deal with (something) usually skillfully or efficiently a multitude of problems to contend with as soon as he returned to the office

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in opposing
to strive to reduce or eliminate medical missionaries who daily contend with disease and poverty

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for contending (with)
  1. addressing
  2. opposing
  3. handling
  4. fighting
  5. managing
  6. combating
  7. manipulating
  8. taking
Verb
  • The scrambles to paper over the shortfalls essentially kick the fiscal can down the road without addressing the underlying causes.
    — Dan Walters, Mercury News, 11 Aug. 2026
  • Medicare supplemental insurance, also known as Medigap, is one option for addressing some of those expenses.
    — Angelica Leicht, CBS News, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of addressing
Verb
  • His greater concern is that even a militarily weak pact could encourage opposing alignments to harden.
    — Efrat Lachter, FOXNews.com, 12 Aug. 2026
  • Meanwhile, residents are organizing a petition opposing the home and are pushing for the operation to be shut down or relocated.
    — Carmela Karcher, CBS News, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of opposing
Verb
  • Balancing privacy and publicity isn’t new, says Alice Marshall, who runs her own public relations agency handling luxury travel clients.
    — Doug Gollan, Forbes.com, 11 Aug. 2026
  • Police have confirmed that the victim is an AutoZone employee who was accidentally shot by a coworker handling a firearm inside the store.
    — CBS News Atlanta Digital Team, CBS News, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of handling
Verb
  • Xi has said fighting against corruption is essential to the party’s survival, and its ability to stay in power depends on strict discipline and political loyalty.
    — Sylvie Zhuang, CNN Money, 16 Aug. 2026
  • That carrier has been among the many Navy assets now in the Mideast fighting the president’s war in Iran and taking part in the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of fighting
Verb
  • Mourinho’s first game back at the Bernabeu should be box-office given the divisions his last spell in charge from 2010 to 2013 caused at Madrid — and his behaviour when managing Benfica against Madrid in the Champions League last year.
    — Dermot Corrigan, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Yet Schore makes a compelling case that the greatest opportunity for reclaiming time isn't found by reorganizing schedules but by managing the internal conversations that quietly consume them.
    — Rodger Dean Duncan, Forbes.com, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of managing
Verb
  • The African Union’s Malabo Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection, adopted in 2014, remains the continent’s main framework for combating cybercrime, but implementation has been uneven.
    — Alexander Onukwue, semafor.com, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Lancer drives home the importance of a good skincare regimen—along with nutrition, diet, exercise and sunscreen use—as a key component of combatting signs of aging.
    — Rachel Burchfield, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of combating
Verb
  • Sandoval’s ex, Dillon Maquindang, stood at a podium Thursday morning and decried the defendant for cheating on them, manipulating them and taking out his failures on Maquindang’s family.
    — James Queally, Los Angeles Times, 13 Aug. 2026
  • In recent years, totalizing ideologies such as communism, fascism, and Islamism have found dedicated audiences on social media, and the proliferation of demagogues manipulating people for malign ends is an ever-present worry.
    — James Kirchick, The Atlantic, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of manipulating
Verb
  • Towns and cities are enacting bans on construction seemingly by the day, including in nearby areas in Washington, out of fears of higher electricity bills, pollution and AI taking their jobs.
    — Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Money, 11 Aug. 2026
  • Skubal also issued two walks and hit a batter with a pitch in just his second career appearance at Dodger Stadium, taking the mound nine days after the defending champions acquired him from Detroit in the biggest trade of the deadline.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of taking
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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contending
contending (with)
contends
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Cite this Entry

“Contending (with).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/contending%20%28with%29. Accessed 17 Aug. 2026.

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