Inherited from Middle English chalengere, chalangeour, chalenger (“one who causes injury, or makes false charges or slanderous statements; one who disputes, disputant, objector; claimant”), and then partly from both of the following: * From Middle English chalengen (“to accuse; to accuse falsely or maliciously, slander; to treat unjustly, wrong; to dispute, object; to make a claim or demand; to rebuke, scold; to issue a challenge to; etc.”) + -er, -ere (suffix forming agent nouns). Chalengen is derived from Anglo-Norman chalenger, and Old French chalenger, chalongier (“to challenge, dispute; to claim; etc.”) (modern French challenger), from Late Latin calumniāre, the second-person singular present active imperative or indicative of calumnior (“to accuse falsely; to make hurtful untrue comments about; etc.”), from Latin calumnia (“artifice, trickery; false accusation; false statement; etc.”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeh₁l-, *keh₁l- (“to beguile, deceive”)) + -or (the first-person singular present passive indicative of -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)). * From Old French chalengeor (“claimant, plaintiff; false accuser, slanderer”) (modern French challengeur), from chalenger, chalongier (see above) + -eor (variant of -or (suffix forming agent nouns)). By surface analysis, challenge (verb) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).
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One who challenges.
[C]ertainly there is no true orator who is not a hero. […] He is challenger and must answer all comers.1876, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Eloquence”, in Letters and Social Aims, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 103:
Debates are often unpredictable, but it is especially hard to game out how this debate featuring a moderate standard-bearer and a liberal challenger will unfold and how people will process it. Hundreds of thousands of viewers, if not millions, will have been personally affected by Sunday, as public gathering spaces are shuttered, schools are closed and on Thursday the stock market plunged by the largest percentage in decades (it snapped back upward on Friday).2020 March 14, Shane Goldmacher, “Throw out the debate Playbook: [Joe] Biden and [Bernie] Sanders to clash amid crisis”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 May 2023:
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Candidates for a state senate seat race in South Florida in which a spoiler appeared to help Republican challenger Ileana Garcia unseat incumbent Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez.2020 November 23, Scott Glover, Curt Devine, Drew Griffin, Scott Bronstein, “A Dark Money Mystery in Florida Centers on the Campaign of a Spoiler Candidate who Appeared to Help a Republican Win by 32 votes”, in CNN, archived from the original on 27 Oct 2025, image caption:
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One who confronts or opposes; a confronter, an opposer.
challengers of traditional attitudes
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Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports One who plays against the current champion of a contest or game in hopes of winning and becoming the new champion.
The champion hopes to defeat his new challenger in the game to remain undefeated.
One child stood as king of the hill, and tried to withstand the pushes and shoves of his challengers.
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Roſ[alind]. Young man, haue you challeng'd Charles the VVraſtler? / Orl[ando]. No faire Princeſſe: he is the general challenger, I come but in as others do, to try vvith him the ſtrength of my youth.c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 187, column 2:
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LawObsolete One who brings a legal claim; a claimant, a plaintiff; also, one who accuses; an accuser.
Novv vvhen they vvere come before Appius, ſitting judicially upon his tribunall ſeate, the plaintife or challenger aforeſaid, declareth againſt her, […]1600, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “[Book III]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 117:
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Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports, TennisAlso Often in the form Challenger: a match, tournament, or tour of the second-highest tier organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals.
American Locomotive Company, which introduced the 4-6-6-4 (on Union Pacific) in 1936, constructed more Challengers than any other builder and, in Northern Pacific's Z-8 class, built the heaviest. NP owned 48 4-6-6-4's in three classes.1959, David P. Morgan, editor, Steam’s Finest Hour, Kalmbach Publishing Co., page 102:
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Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports, TennisAlso Alternative letter-case form of challenger (“a match, tournament, or tour of the second-highest tier organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals”).