challenges

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of challenge.

   The committee weighed the financial challenges against the long-term benefits.

   Each region faces its own challenges in adapting to a warmer climate.

   Note

   Nothing changes in the stem here. Challenge already ends in e, so the plural simply adds -s. Every countable use of the noun pluralizes the same way, whether the challenges are duels proposed by letter, a sentry's demands for the countersign, or attempts to have a book removed from a library. The same spelling also serves as the present-tense verb. Only the sentence tells them apart: 'faces new challenges' is the noun, 'she challenges him' the verb.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of challenge.

   The defense attorney challenges the reliability of the witness's account.

   Her latest book challenges the conventional reading of the treaty.

   Note

   With he, she or it as subject, the verb almost always takes a direct object. A person is challenged to something, such as a contest or a dare. A claim, a ruling or a juror is challenged in the sense of being formally disputed. Because the spelling matches the plural noun, position settles it: directly after a singular subject and before an object, it is this form.

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