challenge Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a demanding or stimulating situation
    • they reacted irrationally to the challenge of Russian power
  2. noun a call to engage in a contest or fight
  3. noun questioning a statement and demanding an explanation
    • his challenge of the assumption that Japan is still our enemy
  4. noun a formal objection to the selection of a particular person as a juror
  5. noun a demand by a sentry for a password or identification
  6. verb take exception to
    gainsay; dispute.
    • She challenged his claims
  7. verb issue a challenge to
    • Fischer challenged Spassky to a match
  8. verb ask for identification
    • The illegal immigrant was challenged by the border guard
  9. verb raise a formal objection in a court of law
    take exception.

WordNet

Chal"lenge noun
Etymology
OE. chalenge claim, accusation, challenge, OF. chalenge, chalonge, claim, accusation, contest, fr. L. calumnia false accusation, chicanery. See Calumny.
Definitions
  1. An invitation to engage in a contest or controversy of any kind; a defiance; specifically, a summons to fight a duel; also, the letter or message conveying the summons.
    A challenge to controversy. Goldsmith.
  2. The act of a sentry in halting any one who appears at his post, and demanding the countersign.
  3. A claim or demand. Obs.
    There must be no challenge of superiority. Collier.
  4. (Hunting) The opening and crying of hounds at first finding the scent of their game.
  5. (Law) An exception to a juror or to a member of a court martial, coupled with a demand that he should be held incompetent to act; the claim of a party that a certain person or persons shall not sit in trial upon him or his cause. Blackstone
  6. An exception to a person as not legally qualifed to vote. The challenge must be made when the ballot is offered. U. S.
Chal"lenge transitive verb
Etymology
OE. chalengen to accuse, claim, OF. chalengier, chalongier, to claim, accuse, dispute, fr. L. calumniar to attack with false accusations. See Challenge, n., and cf. Calumniate.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Challenged ; present participle & verbal noun Challenging
Definitions
  1. To call to a contest of any kind; to call to answer; to defy.
    I challenge any man to make any pretense to power by right of fatherhood. Locke.
  2. To call, invite, or summon to answer for an offense by personal combat.
    By this I challenge him to single fight. Shak.
  3. To claim as due; to demand as a right.
    Challenge better terms. Addison.
  4. To censure; to blame. Obs.
    He complained of the emperors . . . and challenged them for that he had no greater revenues . . . from them. Holland.
  5. (Mil.) To question or demand the countersign from (one who attempts to pass the lines); as, the sentinel challenged us, with "Who comes there?"
  6. To take exception to; question; as, to challenge the accuracy of a statement or of a quotation.
  7. (Law) To object to or take exception to, as to a juror, or member of a court.
  8. To object to the reception of the vote of, as on the ground that the person in not qualifed as a voter. U. S.
Chal"lenge intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To assert a right; to claim a place.
    Where nature doth with merit challenge. Shak.

Webster 1913