logomachy

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: lo=gom=a=chy

CIDE DICTIONARY

logomachy, n. [Gr. ; lo`gos word + fight, battle, contest: cf. F. logomachie.].

•  Contention in words merely, or a contention about words; a war of words.  [1913 Webster]

  "The discussion concerning the meaning of the word “justification” . . . has largely been a mere logomachy."  [1913 Webster]
•  A game of word making.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

logomachy, n. (pl. -ies) literary a dispute about words; controversy turning on merely verbal points.

Etymology

Gk logomakhia f. logos word + makhia fighting

DEVIL DICTIONARY

logomachy

n. A war in which the weapons are words and the wounds punctures in the swim-bladder of self-esteem -- a kind of contest in which, the vanquished being unconscious of defeat, the victor is denied the reward of success.

'Tis said by divers of the scholar-men
That poor Salmasius died of Milton's pen.
Alas! we cannot know if this is true,
For reading Milton's wit we perish too.

THESAURUS

logomachy

Kilkenny cats, altercation, apologetics, apologia, apology, argument, argumentation, bicker, bickering, blood feud, brawl, broil, casuistry, cat-and-dog life, combat, conflict, contention, contentiousness, contest, contestation, controversy, cut and thrust, debate, defense, disputation, dispute, donnybrook, donnybrook fair, embroilment, enmity, feud, fight, fighting, fliting, flyting, fracas, fuss, hassle, hostility, hubbub, imbroglio, litigation, open quarrel, paper war, passage of arms, polemic, polemics, quarrel, quarreling, quarrelsomeness, rhubarb, scrapping, set-to, sharp words, slanging match, snarl, spat, squabble, squabbling, strife, struggle, tiff, tussle, vendetta, verbal engagement, war, war of words, warfare, words, wrangle, wrangling

ROGET THESAURUS

logomachy

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.

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.