"contest the idea" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It is used when one is challenging or disagreeing with an idea. For example, "The manager proposed that we work overtime on the weekend, but I contested the idea."
Others would contest the idea that this elite has any responsibilities.
Stewart muttered that he was not, but he didn't contest the idea with the vigor of his Afghan denial.
But it now seems like the doubters, those who contest the idea of "public goods", have won the contest.
I would never contest the idea that hip-hop made the most of sampling but it is not the square one of sampling for everyone.
And I would just, as just a small comment on the intro, I would somewhat contest the idea that most conflicts nowadays are intrastate.
But Matthew Yglesias's reaction takes the point to a deeper level: You see here the cost of a really irresponsible elite in the United States of America.Some people would contest the idea that America has an elite.
Representative Frank R. Wolf, a Virginia Republican, sent a letter this month to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. contesting the idea that the law was unconstitutional.
Emerson's inability to mourn became a key to understanding the Vuillards: "It's a family that contests the idea of sorrow," he said.
First, he contests the idea that the BNP is exclusively a Labour heresy (as Ukip is seen as a Eurosceptic Tory bolthole).
The counter-revolutionary writer Joseph de Maistre, contesting the idea that there is such a thing as "man" endowed with certain inalienable rights, once remarked that he had known Frenchmen, Italians, and Spaniards but never "man".
The protesters calling for the ban say no one is contesting the idea of children being given "devoirs" – or exercises – just that they should be done during the school day and not at home.
