Contest
Contest noun - An earnest effort for superiority or victory over another.
Usage example: the eternal contest between the forces of good and the forces of evil
War is a synonym for contest in conflict topic. In some cases you can use "War" instead the word "Contest" as a noun or a verb, when it comes to topics like battle, armed conflict. popular alternative
War
War noun - An earnest effort for superiority or victory over another.
Usage example: only the latest round in the never-ending class war
Contest is a synonym for war in conflict topic. You can use "Contest" instead the word "War" as a noun or a verb, if it concerns topics such as armed conflict, fight, battle. popular alternative
Mutual synonyms
How words are described
| good | good contest | good war |
| long | long contest | long war |
| short | short contest | short war |
| following | following contest | following war |
| Other adjectives: small, actual, entire, real, perpetual, constant, violent, big, little, possible, deadly, next, last, giant, previous, resulting, upcoming, three-way, ongoing. | ||
Common collocations
| cases | contest cases | war cases |
Both words in one sentence
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Also used in a ritualized "war" between Megacity One and the Sovs, in which Judges from each side fight to the death in a televised contest.
Source: Blood Sport - Chiang Kai-Shek tested his forces against those of Japan in the 1932 Battle of Shanghai and, with their horrible performance, saw vindicated his conviction that he would have been unable to contest the Japanese annexation of Zhang's territory in an open war.
Source: Divide and Conquer - It gets worse after Abner makes the idiotic decision to turn it into a voting contest in an effort to raise money for the war effort.
Source: Radio / Lum And Abner
Cite this Source
War and Contest. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 15, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/contest/war
Contest & War. N.p., 2016. Web. 15 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/contest/war>.
War or Contest. 2016. Accessed August 15, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/contest/war.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "contest" and "war" have occurred on timeline