1. [n]  a struggle between rivals
2. [n]  an occasion on which a winner is selected from among two or more contestants
3. [v]  to make the subject of dispute, contention, or litigation; "They contested the outcome of the race"

Contest
Every thousand years a contest is held in the universe. This time, Earth has the home field advantage as mild-mannered scientist Stephen Swain is chosen, unbeknownst to himself, as the planet`s champion and pitted against the champions of seven other worlds in a battle to the death in the New York Public Library. Oh, and at the end, the winner must defeat an enormous clawed beast called the Karandon.

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1. \Con*test"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Contested}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Contesting}.] [F. contester, fr. L. contestari to
   call to witness, contestari litem to introduce a lawsuit by
   calling witnesses, to bring an action; con- + testari to be a
   witness, testic witness. See {Testify}.]
   1. To make a subject of dispute, contention, litigation, or
      emulation; to contend for; to call in question; to
      controvert; to oppose; to dispute.
            The people . . . contested not what was done.
                                                  --Locke.
            Few philosophical aphorisms have been more frequenty
            repeated, few more contested than this. --J. D.
                                                  Morell.
   2. To strive earnestly to hold or maintain; to struggle to
      defend; as, the troops contested every inch of ground.
   3. (Law) To make a subject of litigation; to defend, as a
      suit; to dispute or resist; as a claim, by course of law;
      to controvert.
   {To contest an election}. (Polit.)
      (a) To strive to be elected.
      (b) To dispute the declared result of an election.
   Syn: To dispute; controvert; debate; litigate; oppose; argue;
        contend.
   

2. \Con*test"\, v. i.
   To engage in contention, or emulation; to contend; to strive;
   to vie; to emulate; -- followed usually by with.
         The difficulty of an argument adds to the pleasure of
         contesting with it, when there are hopes of victory.
                                                  --Bp. Burnet.
         Of man, who dares in pomp with Jove contest? --Pope.
   

3. \Con"test\, n.
   1. Earnest dispute; strife in argument; controversy; debate;
      altercation.
            Leave all noisy contests, all immodest clamors and
            brawling language.                    --I. Watts.
   2. Earnest struggle for superiority, victory, defense, etc.;
      competition; emulation; strife in arms; conflict; combat;
      encounter.
            The late battle had, in effect, been a contest
            between one usurper and another.      --Hallam.
            It was fully expected that the contest there would
            be long and fierce.                   --Macaulay.
   Syn: Conflict; combat; battle; encounter; shock; struggle;
        dispute; altercation; debate; controvesy; difference;
        disagreement; strife.
   Usage: {Contest}, {Conflict}, {Combat}, {Encounter}. Contest
          is the broadest term, and had originally no reference
          to actual fighting. It was, on the contrary, a legal
          term signifying to call witnesses, and hence came to
          denote first a struggle in argument, and then a
          struggle for some common object between opposing
          parties, usually one of considerable duration, and
          implying successive stages or acts. Conflict denotes
          literally a close personal engagement, in which sense
          it is applied to actual fighting. It is, however, more
          commonly used in a figurative sense to denote
          strenuous or direct opposition; as, a mental conflict;
          conflicting interests or passions; a conflict of laws.
          An encounter is a direct meeting face to face. Usually
          it is a hostile meeting, and is then very nearly
          coincident with conflict; as, an encounter of opposing
          hosts. Sometimes it is used in a looser sense; as,
          ``this keen encounter of our wits.'' --Shak. Combat is
          commonly applied to actual fighting, but may be used
          figuratively in reference to a strife or words or a
          struggle of feeling.