to challenge

Examples

• All

• As soon as she arrived, the bouncer challenged him, insisting he show his ID before letting him inside.

• When I step forward like this, you have to challenge me back into my space, and I challenge you back in your space, like this.

  Save the Last Dance (2001)

• Lately, they had been careful not to challenge him without several members on hand to help out.

  Fiction book (1991)

• - So any crew member can be challenged?

  Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

• I believe we're being challenged.

  Descendants 3 (2019)

• Many worried about being hassled, threatened, or challenged to fight while in or on their way to and from school.

  Academic text (2013)

• For years, music educators have been challenged, even pushed, to help integrate music into the general curriculum.

  Academic text (1991)

• Cherokee basket makers would have been challenged to procure enough material and were in need of other options.

  Academic text (2011)

• At Emily's footstep on the threshold of the barn, he challenged, "Who's that there?"

  Fiction book (1992)

• "You!" the security guard challenged, demanding to see her identification before she could enter the building.

Synonyms

C

to card

vsto challenge

• Informal

12 7.0

To ask someone to show identification to check their age before selling alcohol

stops people more broadly to demand identity or authorization for security

Idioms

R

to rise to the challenge

6 4.2

Face a difficult task and succeed at it

U

up for a challenge

2 4.4

Willing and ready to try something difficult

C

to challenge someone's palate

7.8

To serve food with strong or unusual flavors to test someone's sense of taste

D

deuce of a challenge

• Archaic

9.8

A very difficult and frustrating task

T

to take each challenge as they come

• Informal

5.2

Deal with problems one at a time as they happen

Phrasal Verbs

F

to face a challenge

5 3.9

Deal with a difficult problem or situation

T

to take on the challenge

3 3.2

To accept a difficult task to test yourself

T

to throw down a challenge

• Informal

1 5.4

Openly invite someone to compete with you

C

to challenge the stereotype

1 4.7

To say that a common simple idea about a group is wrong

T

to take the challenge head-on

• Informal

3.9

To face a difficult problem directly and work hard to solve it

W

to weather the challenge

7.0

Manage to get through a difficult situation

Compounds

D

doozy of a challenge

• Informal

9.0

A very difficult task that needs a lot of effort

L

leviathan of a challenge

9.1

A very large and difficult task that is hard to do

T

thorny challenge

7.4

A difficult problem that needs careful handling

W

women's business challenge

7.4

Problems women face at work, like unfair pay or few chances to be leaders

How Strict

to arrest

∞ 3.4

to detain

• Formal

169 5.9

to challenge

46 6.3

check

720 1.0

to ask

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

Etymology