CHALLENGER

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does challenger mean? 

• CHALLENGER (noun)
  The noun CHALLENGER has 1 sense:

1. the contestant you hope to defeat

  Familiarity information: CHALLENGER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHALLENGER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The contestant you hope to defeat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

challenger; competition; competitor; contender; rival

Context example:

he wanted to know what the competition was doing

Hypernyms ("challenger" is a kind of...):

contestant (a person who participates in competitions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "challenger"):

champ; champion; title-holder (someone who has won first place in a competition)

comer (someone with a promising future)

finalist (a contestant who reaches the final stages of a competition)

enemy; foe (a personal enemy)

favorite; favourite; front-runner (a competitor thought likely to win)

king; queen; world-beater (a competitor who holds a preeminent position)

runner-up; second best (the competitor who finishes second)

scratch (a competitor who has withdrawn from competition)

semifinalist (one of four competitors remaining in a tournament by elimination)

street fighter (a contestant who is very aggressive and willing to use underhand methods)

tier (any one of two or more competitors who tie one another)

tilter (someone who engages in a tilt or joust)

Derivation:

challenge (issue a challenge to)

 Context examples 

Challenger said nothing, but looked pompous and puffy, as if he could if he would, so that finally Lord John asked his opinion direct.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

So far, there was little to choose betwixt challengers and challenged.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Challenger looked at me sympathetically, and shook his great head in mock disapproval.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The vanguard halted a long bow shot from the hill, and with waving spears and vaunting shouts challenged their enemies to come forth, while two cavaliers, pricking forward from the glittering ranks, walked their horses slowly between the two arrays with targets braced and lances in rest like the challengers in a tourney.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Challenger fell, and as I stooped to pick him up I was again struck from behind and dropped on the top of him.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Challenger was the man who came with some cock-and-bull story from South America.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Challenger tossed his head and shrugged his heavy shoulders.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Challenger is no chicken, but even he was cowed.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Challenger might get off, but Summerlee and I were in the bill.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Challenger's eyes were shining with the lust of slaughter.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)