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challenge - 10 dictionary results

chal⋅lenge

  [chal-inj] noun, verb, -lenged, -leng⋅ing, adjective
Use challenge in a Sentence
–noun
1. a call or summons to engage in any contest, as of skill, strength, etc.
2. something that by its nature or character serves as a call to battle, contest, special effort, etc.: Space exploration offers a challenge to humankind.
3. a call to fight, as a battle, a duel, etc.
4. a demand to explain, justify, etc.: a challenge to the treasurer to itemize expenditures.
5. difficulty in a job or undertaking that is stimulating to one engaged in it.
6. Military. the demand of a sentry for identification or a countersign.
7. Law. a formal objection to the qualifications of a particular juror, to his or her serving, or to the legality of an entire jury. Compare peremptory challenge.
8. the assertion that a vote is invalid or that a voter is not legally qualified.
9. Biology. the process of inducing or assessing physiological or immunological activity by exposing an organism to a specific substance.
10. Hunting. the crying of a hound on finding a scent.
–verb (used with object)
11. to summon to a contest of skill, strength, etc.
12. to take exception to; call in question: to challenge the wisdom of a procedure.
13. to demand as something due or rightful.
14. Military. to halt and demand identification or countersign from.
15. Law. to take formal exception to (a juror or jury).
16. to have a claim to; invite; arouse; stimulate: a matter which challenges attention.
17. to assert that (a vote) is invalid.
18. to assert that (a voter) is not qualified to vote.
19. to expose an organism to a specific substance in order to assess its physiological or immunological activity.
20. Archaic. to lay claim to.
–verb (used without object)
21. to make or issue a challenge.
22. Hunting. (of hounds) to cry or give tongue on picking up the scent.
–adjective
23. donated or given by a private, corporate, or government benefactor on condition that the recipient raise an additional specified amount from the public: a challenge grant.
Origin:
1175–1225; ME chalenge < OF, var. of chalonge < L calumnia calumny

Related forms:
chal⋅lenge⋅a⋅ble, adjective

Synonyms:
11. dare, bid, invite. 12. question, impute, doubt.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To challenge
chal·lenge   (chāl'ənj)   
n.  
    1. A call to engage in a contest, fight, or competition: a challenge to a duel.
    2. An act or statement of defiance; a call to confrontation: a challenge to the government's authority.
  2. A demand for explanation or justification; a calling into question: a challenge to a theory.
  3. A sentry's call to an unknown party for proper identification.
  4. A test of one's abilities or resources in a demanding but stimulating undertaking: a career that offers a challenge.
  5. A claim that a vote is invalid or that a voter is unqualified.
  6. Law A formal objection to the inclusion of a prospective juror in a jury.
  7. Immunology The induction or evaluation of an immune response in an organism by administration of a specific antigen to which it has been sensitized.
v.   chal·lenged, chal·leng·ing, chal·leng·es

v.   tr.
    1. To call to engage in a contest, fight, or competition: challenged me to a game of chess.
    2. To invite with defiance; dare: challenged him to contradict her. See Synonyms at defy.
  2. To take exception to; call into question; dispute: a book that challenges established beliefs.
  3. To order to halt and be identified, as by a sentry.
  4. Law To take formal objection to (a prospective juror).
  5. To question the qualifications of (a voter) or validity of (a vote).
  6. To have due claim to; call for: events that challenge our attention.
  7. To summon to action, effort, or use; stimulate: a problem that challenges the imagination.
  8. Immunology To induce or evaluate an immune response in (an organism) by administering a specific antigen to which it has been sensitized.
v.   intr.
  1. To make or give voice to a challenge.
  2. To begin barking upon picking up the scent. Used of hunting dogs.

[Middle English chalenge, from Old French, from Latin calumnia, trickery, false accusation; see calumny. V., from Middle English chalengen, from Old French chalangier, from Latin calumniārī, from calumnia.]
chal'lenge·a·ble adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Challenge

Chal"lenge\, n. [OE. chalenge claim, accusation, challenge, OF. chalenge, chalonge, claim, accusation, contest, fr. L. calumnia false accusation, chicanery. See Calumny.]

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 qualified to vote. The challenge must be made when the ballot is offered. [U. S.]

Challenge to the array (Law), an exception to the whole panel.

Challenge to the favor, the alleging a special cause, the sufficiency of which is to be left to those whose duty and office it is to decide upon it.

Challenge to the polls, an exception taken to any one or more of the individual jurors returned.

Peremptory challenge, a privilege sometimes allowed to defendants, of challenging a certain number of jurors (fixed by statute in different States) without assigning any cause.

Principal challenge, that which the law allows to be sufficient if found to be true.

Challenge

Chal"lenge\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Challenged; p. pr. & vb. n. Challenging.] [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.]

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 qualified as a voter. [U. S.]

To challenge to the array, favor, polls. See under Challenge, n.

Challenge

Chal"lenge\, v. i. To assert a right; to claim a place.

Where nature doth with merit challenge. --Shak.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : challenge
Spanish: desafiar, retar,
German: herausfordern,
Japanese: 挑戦する
More Translations »

challenge 
1292, from O.Fr. chalenge "accusation, claim, dispute," from L. calumnia "trickery" (see calumny). Accusatory connotations died out 17c. Meaning "a calling to fight" is from 1530. Challenged as a euphemism for "disabled" dates from 1985.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: chal·lenge
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: chal·lenged; chal·leng·ing
1 : to dispute esp. as being invalid or unjust challenged this interpretation>
2 : to question formally (as by a suit or motion) the legality or legal qualifications of <challenge the regulations>; especially : to make a challenge to (a trier of fact) challenging prospective jurors —W. Railroad LaFave and A. W. Scott, Junior> —compare RECUSE

Main Entry: challenge
Function: noun
1 : a calling into question; especially : a questioning of validity or legality : OBJECTION challenge to the statute is in effect a challenge of this basic assumption —Kramer v. Union Free School Dist. Number 15, 395 U.S. 621 (1969)> —see also BATSON CHALLENGE
2 : a request to disqualify a trier of fact (as a jury member or judge) —compare RECUSAL, STRIKE
challenge for cause
: a challenge esp. of a prospective juror based on a specific and stated cause or reason
challenge to the array
: a challenge of an entire jury that raises objections to the selection process
peremptory challenge
: a challenge esp. of a prospective juror that does not require a stated cause or reason
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Main Entry: 1chal·lenge
Pronunciation: 'chal-&nj
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: chal·lenged;chal·leng·ing
: to administer a physiological and especially an immunologic challenge to (an organism or cell)

Main Entry: 2challenge
Function: noun
: the process of provoking or testing physiological activity by exposure to a specific substance; especially : a test of immunity by exposure to an antigen after immunization against it
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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