debate
/dɪˈbeɪt/ verb, noun
Forms debates debating debated
- verb (ambitransitive, reciprocal) To participate in a debate; to dispute, argue, especially in a public arena. “"Debate me, coward!" snarled the completely normal intellectual.”
- verb (obsolete, intransitive, reciprocal) To fight.
- verb (obsolete, transitive) To engage in combat for; to strive for.
- verb (transitive) To consider (to oneself), to think over, to attempt to decide “He was debating where he'd spend his holiday.”
- noun An argument, or discussion, usually in an ordered or formal setting, often with more than two people, generally ending with a vote or other decision. “After a four-hour debate, the committee voted to table the motion.”
- noun An informal and spirited but generally civil discussion of opposing views. “The debate over the age of the universe is thousands of years old.”
- noun (uncountable) Discussion of opposing views. “There has been considerable debate concerning exactly how to format these articles.”
- noun (frequently in the French form débat) A type of literary composition, taking the form of a discussion or disputation, commonly found in the vernacular medieval poetry of many European countries, as well as in medieval Latin.
- noun (obsolete) Strife, discord.
Synonyms
contend canvass argument argumentation disputation public debate consider moot turn over deliberate argue fence
Etymology
From Middle English debaten, from Old French debatre (“to fight, contend, debate, also literally to beat down”), from Romanic desbattere, from Latin dis- (“apart, in different directions”) + battuō (“to beat, to fence”).
From Middle English debat, borrowed from Old French debat, deverbal of debatre, see Etymology 1 for more.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To engage in combat for; to strive for. Volunteers . . . thronged to serve under his banner, and the cause of religion was debated with the same ardor in Spain as on the plains of Palestine. Prescott.
- verb To contend for in words or arguments; to strive to maintain by reasoning; to dispute; to contest; to discuss; to argue for and against.
- verb To engage in strife or combat; to fight. [Obs.] Chaucer.
- verb To contend in words; to dispute; hence, to deliberate; to consider; to discuss or examine different arguments in the mind; --often followed by on or upon.
Etymology [OF. debatre, F. débattre; L. de + batuere to beat. See Batter, v. t., and cf. Abate.]
Etymology [F. débat, fr. débattre. See Debate, v. t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “debate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details