English Explanatory Dictionary

debate

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To participate in a debate; to dispute, argue, especially in a public arena.
  2. To fight.
  3. To engage in combat for; to strive for.
  4. To consider (to oneself), to think over, to attempt to decide
noun
  1. 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.
  2. An informal and spirited but generally civil discussion of opposing views.
  3. Discussion of opposing views.
  4. 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.
  5. Strife, discord.

Pronunciation

/dɪˈbeɪt/ /di-/ /də-/ En-us-debate.ogg

Word forms

debate debates debating debated

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”).

Synonyms

contend canvass

Related words

abate batter battery battle combat debatable debation

Derived words

debatability debatable debater debatingly mass debate outdebate redebate undebating antidebate balloon debate debate bro debateful Debategate debatelord debatey make-debate metadebate nondebate postdebate predebate pseudodebate self-debate
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on D Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary