[f. CONTEND + -ED1.] One who contends or is given to contention; a combatant, rival, competitor, disputant, wrangler. Const. for (an object).
1547. Homilies, I. Saluation, III. C. iv. Contenders wyll euer forge matter of contention.
1651. Baxter, Inf. Bapt., 243. Yet was I never a hot contender.
1663. J. Spencer, Prodigies (1665), 13. The many Contenders for the sacred regards of the singularities in Nature.
1798. W. Hutton, Autobiog., 43. The attorney promised to reimburse the expense, the contenders being poor.
1847. Nat. Encycl., I. 841. The contenders for empire … after the death of Alexander.
