1. (n.) A violent effort or struggle to obtain, or to resist, something; contest; strife.
2. (n.) Strife in words; controversy; altercation; quarrel; dispute; as, a bone of contention.
3. (n.) Vehemence of endeavor; eagerness; ardor; zeal.
4. (n.) A point maintained in an argument, or a line of argument taken in its support; the subject matter of discussion or strife; a position taken or contended for.
Thesaurus Entries
Discordia, Eris, altercation, antagonism, anteposition, antipathy, antithesis, apologetics, apologia, apology, argument, argumentation, argumentative, bellicose, belligerence, belligerent, bicker, bickering, blood feud, brawl, broil, bucking, captious, carping, casuistry, caviling, challenge, clash, clashing, collision, combative, conflict, confrontation, confrontment, contentious, contestation, contradiction, contraposition, contrariety, contrary, contrast, contravention, contraversion, controversial, controversy, counteraction, counterworking, crosscurrent, crossing, defense, denial, despitefulness, difference, disaccord, disaffinity, discord, discordance, discordancy, disharmony, disputation, disputatious, dispute, dissension, dissent, dissidence, disunity, donnybrook, donnybrook fair, embroilment, enmity, faultfinding, feud, fiery, fight, fliting, flyting, fracas, friction, froward, fuss, hassle, hasty, hate, hatred, head wind, hostility, hotheaded, hubbub, hurrah, imbroglio, impetuous, impugnation, impugnment, incompatibility, incompatibleness, inharmoniousness, inharmony, jangle, jar, litigation, litigious, logomachy, malevolence, malice, malignity, militant, mischief, negation, noncooperation, open conflict, open quarrel, opposing, opposition, opposure, oppugnation, paper war, passage of arms, peppery, perverse, polar opposition, polarity, polarization, polemic, polemical, polemics, posing against, pugnacious, quarrel, quarrelsome, quarrelsomeness, rebutment, rebuttal, refusal, rejection, repugnance, resistance, rhubarb, rub, rumpus, scrappy, set-to, sharp words, slanging match, snarl, spat, spite, spitefulness, squabble, standing against, strained relations, strife, tension, tiff, traversal, truculent, tussle, undercurrent, unharmoniousness, unpleasantness, variance, vendetta, verbal engagement, war of words, warlike, words, wrangle, wrangling
