contest vs strive

contest

verb
  • To strive earnestly to hold or maintain; to struggle to defend. 

  • To call into question; to oppose. 

  • To make a subject of litigation; to defend, as a suit; to dispute or resist, as a claim, by course of law. 

  • To contend. 

noun
  • Controversy; debate. 

  • Struggle for superiority; combat. 

  • A competition. 

strive

verb
  • To struggle in opposition; to be in contention or dispute; to contend; to contest. 

  • To try to achieve a result; to make strenuous effort; to try earnestly and persistently. 

  • To vie; to compete as a rival. 

How often have the words contest and strive occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )