Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - dispute

(disputes, disputing, disputed) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. A dispute is an argument or disagreement between people or groups. They have won previous pay disputes with the government... N-VAR: usu with supp, oft N with/over n, N between pl-n 2. If you dispute a fact, statement, or theory, you say that it is incorrect or untrue. He disputed the allegations... Nobody disputed that Davey was clever... Some economists disputed whether consumer spending is as strong as the figures suggest. VERB: V n, V that, V wh 3. When people dispute something, they fight for control or ownership of it. You can also say that one group of people dispute something with another group. Russia and Ukraine have been disputing the ownership of the fleet... Fishermen from Bristol disputed fishing rights with the Danes. ...a disputed border region. V-RECIP: pl-n V n, V n with n, V-ed 4. If two or more people or groups are in dispute, they are arguing or disagreeing about something. The two countries are in dispute over the boundaries of their coastal waters... PHRASE: v-link PHR, oft PHR with n, PHR over n 5. If something is in dispute, people are questioning it or arguing about it. All those matters are in dispute and it is not for me to decide them. PHRASE: v-link PHR