Verb

(en verb)

to strive in opposition; to contest; to dispute; to vie; to quarrel; to fight.

* Bible, Deuteronomy ii. 9

The Lord said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle.

* Shakespeare

For never two such kingdoms did contend without much fall of blood.

to struggle or exert one's self to obtain or retain possession of, or to defend.

* Dryden

You sit above, and see vain men below / Contend for what you only can bestow.

to strive in debate; to engage in discussion; to dispute; to argue.

* John Locke

The question which our author would contend for.

* Dr H. More

Many things he fiercely contended about were trivial.

Verb

(pronounc)

To formally declare, officially or ceremoniously.

* , chapter=5

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced . The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.}}

To pass judgment.

To sound out (a word or phrase); to articulate.

* 1869 , (Mark Twain), The Innocents Abroad , page 182:

They spell it "Vinci" and pronounce' it "Vinchy". Foreigners always spell better than they ' pronounce .

*

To produce the components of speech.

To declare authoritatively, or as a formal expert opinion.

To read aloud.