Debate

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: de=bate

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Debate, v. & n.
--v.
1 tr. (also absol.) discuss or dispute about (an issue, proposal, etc.) esp. formally in a legislative assembly, public meeting, etc.
2 a tr. consider, ponder (a matter). b intr. consider different sides of a question.
--n.
1 a formal discussion on a particular matter, esp. in a legislative assembly etc.
2 debating, discussion (open to debate).

Idiom

debating point an inessential matter used to gain advantage in a debate.

Derivative

debater n.

Etymology

ME f. OF debatre, debat f. Rmc (as DE-, BATTLE)

THESAURUS

Debate

Kilkenny cats, address, after-dinner speech, agitate, air, airing, allocution, altercation, analysis, analyze, application, argue, argument, argumentation, back down, balance, be abstracted, bickering, brood, buzz session, canvass, canvassing, cat-and-dog life, chalk talk, chew the cud, cloture, cogitation, colloquium, combat, comment upon, committee consideration, concentration, conference, conflict, consider, consideration, contemplate, contemplation, contend, contention, contentiousness, contest, contestation, controversy, controvert, cut and thrust, deal with, debating, declaim, declamation, deliberate, deliberate upon, deliberation, demagogue, demur, dialectic, dialogue, diatribe, digest, discept, discourse about, discuss, discussion, disputation, dispute, division, elocute, enmity, eulogy, examination, examine, exchange of views, exchange views, exhortation, falter, fear, fighting, filibuster, filibustering, filing, first reading, forensic, forensic address, formal speech, forum, funeral oration, go into, handle, hang back, harangue, heed, hem and haw, hesitate, hold forth, hortatory address, hostility, hover, hum and haw, inaugural, inaugural address, introduction, introspect, invective, investigate, investigation, jeremiad, jib, joint discussion, knock around, litigation, logical analysis, logical discussion, logomachy, logrolling, meditate, meditation, moot, mouth, mull over, muse, open discussion, open forum, orate, oration, out-herod Herod, panel discussion, paper war, pass under review, pause, pep talk, perorate, peroration, perpend, philippic, pitch, play around with, play with, polemic, ponder, ponder over, prepared speech, prepared text, public speech, pull back, quarrel, quarreling, quarrelsomeness, question, rabble-rouse, rant, rap, rap session, read, reading, reason, reason about, reason the point, recital, recitation, recite, reflect, reflection, refuting, retreat, review, rodomontade, roll call, ruminate, ruminate over, sales talk, salutatory, salutatory address, say, scrapping, screed, scruple, second reading, seminar, set speech, shilly-shally, shy, sift, speculate, speech, speechification, speeching, spiel, spout, squabbling, steamroller methods, stick at, stickle, stop to consider, straddle the fence, strain at, strife, struggle, study, symposium, tabling, take up, talk, talk about, talk of, talk over, talkathon, think over, think through, think twice about, third reading, thrash out, thresh out, tirade, toss, town meeting, toy with, treat, treatment, tub-thump, valediction, valedictory, valedictory address, ventilate, ventilation, vote, war, war of words, warfare, weigh, withdraw, words, wrangle, wrangling, yield

ROGET THESAURUS

Debate

Conversation

N conversation, interlocution, collocution, colloquy, converse, confabulation, talk, discourse, verbal intercourse, oral communication, commerce, dialogue, duologue, trialogue, causerie, chat, chitchat, small talk, table talk, teatable talk, town talk, village talk, idle talk, tattle, gossip, tittle-tattle, babble, babblement, tripotage, cackle, prittle-prattle, cancan, on dit, talk of the town, talk of the village, conference, parley, interview, audience, pourparler, tete-a-tete, reception, conversazione, congress, powwow, hall of audience, durbar, palaver, debate, logomachy, war of words, gossip, tattler, Paul Pry, tabby, chatterer, interlocutor, conversationist, dialogist, the feast of reason and the flow of soul, mollia tempora fandi, conversing, interlocutory, conversational, conversable, discursive, discoursive, chatty, colloquial, with thee conversing I forget all time.

Irresolution

VB be irresolute, hang in suspense, keep in suspense, leave "ad referendum", think twice about, pause, dawdle, remain neuter, dillydally, hesitate, boggle, hover, dacker, hum and haw, demur, not know one's own mind, debate, balance, dally with, coquet with, will and will not, chaser-balancer, go halfway, compromise, make a compromise, be thrown off one's balance, stagger like a drunken man, be afraid, let 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would', falter, waver vacillate, change, retract, fluctuate, pendulate, alternate, keep off and on, play fast and loose, blow hot and cold, shuffle, palter, blink, trim.

Contention

N contention, strife, contest, contestation, struggle, belligerency, opposition, controversy, polemics, debate, war of words, logomachy, litigation, paper war, high words, sparring, competition, rivalry, corrivalry, corrivalship, agonism, concours, match, race, horse racing, heat, steeple chase, handicap, regatta, field day, sham fight, Derby day, turf, sporting, bullfight, tauromachy, gymkhana, boat race, torpids, wrestling, greco-roman wrestling, pugilism, boxing, fisticuffs, the manly art of self-defense, spar, mill, set-to, round, bout, event, prize fighting, quarterstaff, single stick, gladiatorship, gymnastics, jiujitsu, jujutsu, kooshti, sumo, athletics, athletic sports, games of skill, shindy, fracas, clash of arms, tussle, scuffle, broil, fray, affray, affrayment, velitation, colluctation, luctation, brabble, brigue, scramble, melee, scrimmage, stramash, bushfighting, free fight, stand up fight, hand to hand, running fight, conflict, skirmish, rencounter, encounter, rencontre, collision, affair, brush, fight, battle, battle royal, combat, action, engagement, joust, tournament, tilt, tilting, tournay, list, pitched battle, death struggle, struggle for life or death, life or death struggle, Armageddon, hard knocks, sharp contest, tug of war, naval engagement, naumachia, sea fight, duel, duello, single combat, monomachy, satisfaction, passage d'armes, passage of arms, affair of honor, triangular duel, hostile meeting, digladiation, deeds of arms, feats of arms, appeal to arms, pugnacity, combativeness, bone of contention, contending, together by the ears, at loggerheads, at war, at issue, competitive, rival, belligerent, contentious, combative, bellicose, unpeaceful, warlike, quarrelsome, pugnacious, pugilistic, gladiatorial, palestric, palestrical, a verbis ad verbera, a word and a blow, a very pretty quarrel as it stands, commune periculum concordiam parit, lis litem generat.

Reasoning,

N reasoning ratiocination rationalism, dialectics, induction, generalization, discussion, comment, ventilation, inquiry, argumentation, controversy, debate, polemics, wrangling, contention, logomachy, disputation, disceptation, paper war, art of reasoning, logic, process of reasoning, train of reasoning, chain of reasoning, deduction, induction, abduction, synthesis, analysis, argument, case, plaidoyer, opening, lemma, proposition, terms, premises, postulate, data, starting point, principle, inference, prosyllogism, syllogism, enthymeme, sorites, dilemma, perilepsis, a priori reasoning, reductio ad absurdum, horns of a dilemma, argumentum ad hominem, comprehensive argument, empirema, epagoge, reasoner, logician, dialectician, disputant, controversialist, controvertist, wrangler, arguer, debater polemic, casuist, rationalist, scientist, eristic, logical sequence, good case, correct just reasoning, sound reasoning, valid reasoning, cogent reasoning, logical reasoning, forcible reasoning, persuasive reasoning, persuasory reasoning, consectary reasoning, conclusive, subtle reasoning, force of argument, strong point, strong argument, persuasive argument, arguments, reasons, pros and cons, reasoning, rationalistic, argumentative, controversial, dialectic, polemical, discursory, discursive, disputatious, Aristotelian, eristic, eristical, debatable, controvertible, logical, relevant, for, because, hence, whence, seeing that, since, sith, then thence so, for that reason, for this reason, for which reason, for as, inasmuch as, whereas, ex concesso, considering, in consideration of, therefore, wherefore, consequently, ergo, thus, accordingly, a fortiori, in conclusion, in fine, finally, after all, au bout du compt, on the whole, taking one thing with another, ab actu ad posse valet consecutio, per troppo dibatter la verita si perde, troppo disputare la verita fa errare.

VB reason, argue, discuss, debate, dispute, wrangle, argufy, bandy words, bandy arguments, chop logic, hold an argument, carry on an argument, controvert, canvass, comment upon, moralize upon, spiritualize, consider, open a discussion, open a case, try conclusions, join issue, be at issue, moot, come to the point, stir a question, agitate a question, ventilate a question, torture a question, take up a side, take up a case, contend, take one's stand upon, insist, lay stress on, infer, follow from.