challenger
nounattested in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈt͡ʃælɪn(d)ʒə//
- United States//ˈt͡ʃælənd͡ʒəɹ//
One who challenges.
noun
- 1
One who challenges.
[C]ertainly there is no true orator who is not a hero. […] He is challenger and must answer all comers.
Candidates for a state senate seat race in South Florida in which a spoiler appeared to help Republican challenger Ileana Garcia unseat incumbent Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez.
- 2
One who challenges. One who confronts or opposes; a confronter, an opposer.
challengers of traditional attitudes
- 3
One who challenges. One who plays against the current champion of a contest or game in hopes of winning and becoming the new champion.
The champion hopes to defeat his new challenger in the game to remain undefeated.
One child stood as king of the hill, and tried to withstand the pushes and shoves of his challengers.
Roſ[alind]. Young man, haue you challeng'd Charles the VVraſtler? / Orl[ando]. No faire Princeſſe: he is the general challenger, I come but in as others do, to try vvith him the ſtrength of my youth.
- 4
obsoleteOne who challenges. One who brings a legal claim; a claimant, a plaintiff; also, one who accuses; an accuser.
Novv vvhen they vvere come before Appius, ſitting judicially upon his tribunall ſeate, the plaintife or challenger aforeſaid, declareth againſt her, […]
- 5
Often in the form Challenger: a match, tournament, or tour of the second-highest tier organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English chalengere, chalangeour, chalenger (“one who causes injury, or makes false charges or slanderous statements; one who disputes, disputant, objector; claimant”), and then partly from both of the following: * From Middle English chalengen (“to accuse; to accuse falsely or maliciously, slander; to treat unjustly, wrong; to dispute, object; to make a claim or demand; to rebuke, scold; to issue a challenge to; etc.”) + -er, -ere (suffix forming agent nouns). Chalengen is derived from Anglo-Norman chalenger, and Old French chalenger, chalongier (“to challenge, dispute; to claim; etc.”) (modern French challenger), from Late Latin calumniāre, the second-person singular present active imperative or indicative of calumnior (“to accuse falsely; to make hurtful untrue comments about; etc.”), from Latin calumnia (“artifice, trickery; false accusation; false statement; etc.”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeh₁l-, *keh₁l- (“to beguile, deceive”)) + -or (the first-person singular present passive indicative of -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)). * From Old French chalengeor (“claimant, plaintiff; false accuser, slanderer”) (modern French challengeur), from chalenger, chalongier (see above) + -eor (variant of -or (suffix forming agent nouns)). By surface analysis, challenge (verb) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).
Forms
- plural
- challengers