How to Use contender in a Sentence
contender
noun- This latest defeat means that she's no longer a contender for the world title.
- There are several contestants, but only two real contenders.
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The two were the contenders in the second round of the election.
—Jari Tanner, Quartz, 12 Feb. 2024
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Thanks to the strikes, this was the weakest group of contenders in decades.
—Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 2 Aug. 2024
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That opened the door for the other contenders with the field down to 18 horses.
—USA TODAY, 6 May 2023
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The contenders represented the West, the Northeast, the Midwest and the South.
—Kturnqui, oregonlive, 22 June 2023
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The change-up makes KCAL a contender in the morning news arena for the first time.
—Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 12 July 2022
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Almost all our judges loved this Car of the Year contender.
—Robert Ross, Robb Report, 11 Feb. 2025
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The Cougars’ only loss was by six points in Week 3 against a 4A contender in Snowflake.
—Theo MacKie, The Arizona Republic, 10 Nov. 2022
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Here's a look at the Final Four Burger contenders, and how to vote.
—Endia Fontanez, The Arizona Republic, 20 Mar. 2024
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If there was a comeback player of the year award in the NHL, Drouin would be a top contender.
—Corey Masisak, The Denver Post, 18 May 2024
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While some may argue that the kitchen is the heart of a home, the sitting room makes for a mighty fine contender.
—Town & Country, 9 Feb. 2023
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This left Jenna and Joey and Ilona and Alan as the final two contenders.
—Dana Rose Falcone, People.com, 27 Nov. 2024
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Notre Dame should also be a contender for a top 10 spot.
—Nathan Baird, cleveland, 4 Aug. 2022
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If the Heat doesn’t want to be a contender, stop pretending.
—Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 7 July 2024
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But the Rams are still expected to be a strong contender for the state title.
—oregonlive, 19 Aug. 2022
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Most of the main contenders fly in for the Gothams, and many stick around to get some extra campaigning in.
—Nate Jones, Vulture, 7 Dec. 2024
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That said, Trump swamps the current field of primary contenders with 69% of the vote.
—Susan Page, USA TODAY, 23 Apr. 2023
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And her team has the look, once again, of a major contender in Division 1.
—Cam Kerry, BostonGlobe.com, 24 Aug. 2022
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So has Renault done enough to put itself back on the map as an EV contender?
—James Morris, Forbes, 8 Oct. 2022
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The brand’s waffle robe also beat out a handful of contenders for the best spa-style robe.
—Claire Harmeyer, Peoplemag, 5 May 2023
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There’s still time for more contenders to step forward.
—Steven Porter, BostonGlobe.com, 8 June 2023
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Here’s your cheat sheet for the 76th Emmy Awards, from the date to the biggest contenders in all the major categories.
—Radhika Seth, Vogue, 19 Aug. 2024
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The new equations were a nod to Peak TV, and the fact that many categories were bursting with contenders.
—Michael Schneider, Variety, 24 June 2024
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Some teams are legit contenders and others need to show more.
—Jim Reineking, USA TODAY, 20 Sep. 2024
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To some extent, though, it can be attributed not just to the strength of those new contenders, but to the weakness of the squads assumed to be at the head of the field.
—Rory Smith, New York Times, 4 Aug. 2023
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The hope is that some players who could be part of the next A’s contender got MLB experience.
—Matt Kawahara, San Francisco Chronicle, 6 Oct. 2022
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In baseball, as the Angels and their fans know all too well, one player does not make your team a contender.
—Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 26 Nov. 2024
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Both are well behind perennial state-title contender South Dade, which has 199 points.
—Steve Gorches, Orlando Sentinel, 8 Mar. 2025
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Both should be Final Four favorites and national title contenders.
—Sabreena Merchant, The Athletic, 10 Mar. 2025
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'contender.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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