challenging
[ chal-in-jing ]
/ ˈtʃæl ɪn dʒɪŋ /
adjective
offering a challenge; testing one's ability, endurance, etc: a challenging course; a challenging game.
stimulating, interesting, and thought-provoking: a challenging suggestion.
provocative; intriguing: a challenging smile.
OTHER WORDS FROM challenging
chal·leng·ing·ly, adverb non·chal·leng·ing, adjective un·chal·leng·ing, adjectiveWords nearby challenging
challah,
challenge,
challenge diet,
challenged,
challenger,
challenging,
challis,
chalmers,
chalon-sur-saône,
chalone,
chalukya
Definition for challenging (2 of 2)
Origin of challenge
historical usage of challenge
The English verb
challenge comes from Middle English
kalange(n), chalenge(n) “to accuse, claim,” which comes from the Old French verb
calonger, calanger, chalonger, chalanger (with still more variants) “to protest, complain,” from Latin
calumniārī “to bring false accusations, interpret wrongly, misrepresent, criticize unfairly,” itself a derivation of the noun
calumnia, with legal meanings “false accusation, false claim, false pretenses, the making of unfounded objections, trickery.” (The Old French noun
chalenge, chalonge is a regular development of Latin
calumnia: the cluster
-mni- becomes
-nge in French, as Latin
somnium “dream” becomes Old French
songe with the same meaning.)
Latin calumnia is the direct source of calumny, “a false and malicious statement,” so calumny and challenge are doublets (words deriving ultimately from the same source). In fact, an earlier, now obsolete meaning of challenge was “an accusation or false claim.”
The legal sense of challenge, “to object to (a juror or evidence),” dates from the 16th century. The verb sense “to summon someone to a fight or a duel” first appears in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost (1598).
Latin calumnia is the direct source of calumny, “a false and malicious statement,” so calumny and challenge are doublets (words deriving ultimately from the same source). In fact, an earlier, now obsolete meaning of challenge was “an accusation or false claim.”
The legal sense of challenge, “to object to (a juror or evidence),” dates from the 16th century. The verb sense “to summon someone to a fight or a duel” first appears in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost (1598).
OTHER WORDS FROM challenge
Example sentences from the Web for challenging
British Dictionary definitions for challenging (1 of 2)
challenging
/ (ˈtʃælɪndʒɪŋ) /
adjective
demanding or stimulating
a challenging new job
British Dictionary definitions for challenging (2 of 2)
challenge
/ (ˈtʃælɪndʒ) /
verb (mainly tr)
noun
Derived forms of challenge
challengeable, adjective challenger, nounWord Origin for challenge
C13: from Old French
chalenge, from Latin
calumnia
calumny