In a sentence
Six example sentences with contentious, each labelled with its topic.
The zoning proposal turned contentious within minutes, and the council chair called two recesses before anyone reached a vote.
Politics
The dating of the fossil remains contentious, with three labs publishing results that disagree by forty thousand years.
Science
Whether the rookie or the veteran should start became the most contentious question in the locker room all season.
Basketball
The boundary clause remained contentious to the end, and the two lawyers argued it for a full day.
Law
The origin of the alphabet remains contentious, with scholars divided over which trading port first used it.
History
The effect of a minimum wage on jobs remains contentious, and each new study seems to reopen the argument.
Economics
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Found in these word lists
Found in 9 published word listsRecognized
Each source is a published word list that contains contentious. No exam board publishes an official GRE, GMAT or SAT list; GMAT words come from GRE lists and the Academic Word List.