Word Finder - debate

definition

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.

example

After a four-hour debate, the committee voted to table the motion.

definition

An informal and spirited but generally civil discussion of opposing views.

example

The debate over the age of the universe is thousands of years old.

definition

Discussion of opposing views.

example

There has been considerable debate concerning exactly how to format these articles.

definition

(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.

definition

Strife, discord.

definition

To participate in a debate; to dispute, argue, especially in a public arena.

example

"Debate me, coward!" snarled the completely normal intellectual.

definition

To fight.

definition

To engage in combat for; to strive for.

definition

To consider (to oneself), to think over, to attempt to decide

example

He was debating where he'd spend his holiday.

See you at the debate tomorrow.

This debate business was no problem when I didn't have an opponent.

And that debate ended overnight.

Alex, I don't want to debate this issue.

It's not a debate or anything.

In spite of the drubbing he'd taken in the debate, he felt pretty good.

This last hall had tribunes for the public, which often influenced the debate by interruptions or applause.

There is some debate as to whether the poor should even try to feed themselves.

The semi-centennial of this debate was celebrated in 1908, when the Illini Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, caused a suitably inscribed boulder weighing 23 tons to be set up in Washington Park as a memorial.

But he did not fulfil the expectations which had been formed on the strength`' of his colonial reputation; he took no very prominent part in debate, and gave little evidence of his undoubted oratorical gifts.

Instead, however, of proceeding with the work of practical legislation, accepting the Instrument of Government without challenge as the basis of its authority, the parliament immediately began to discuss and find fault with the constitution and to debate about "Fundamentals."

Pressure from all sides of the House, however, induced the ministry to retain office until after the debate on the application to Rome and the Papal States of the Religious Orders Bill (originally passed in 1866)a measure which, with the help of Ricasoli, was carried at the end of May.

In the long and important debate upon foreign policy in the Italian Chamber of Deputies (6th to 9th December) the fear was repeatedly expressed lest Bismarck should seek to purchase the support of German Catholics by raising the Roman question.

In the debate on the "tariff of abominations" in 1828 he took no part, but voted for the measure in obedience to instructions from the New York legislature - an action which was cited against him as late as the presidential campaign of 1844.

In the practical questions which arose, and in the great debate which was political, economical and moral, she took a very active part.

At the beginning of the session of 1919 he was elected vice-chairman of the party, and he took a considerable share in debate, speaking with a moderation and appreciation of the standpoint of other classes not always manifested by Labour members.

These conditions were submitted to Constantinople, and rejected after a stormy debate in the divan.

In July of the same year he proceeded to the north to debate on the " Covenant " with the famous Aberdeen doctors; but he was not well received by them.

It was clear that the spiritual forces of the time were also slipping out of his grasp. Early in January he sought to come to terms with the pope (then virtually a captive at Fontainebleau) respecting various questions then in debate concerning the Concordat.

He pursued his policy of playing into the hands of the sovereign whilst keeping up the appearances of a Liberal, almost democratic, leader, skilful in debate, a trimmer par excellence, and abler in opposition than in office.

The opportunity thus given for debate naturally stimulated the movement in favour of constitutional government, which received new impulses from the sympathetic attitude of the emperor Alexander II., his grant in 1879 of a constitution to the liberated principality of Bulgaria, and the multiplication of Nihilist outrages which pointed to the necessity of conciliating Liberal opinion in order to present a united front against revolutionary agitation.

I have a tape of the entire debate.

His rapid brain made him a master in debate.

But John O'Neill (1740-1798), who represented Randalstown in the Irish parliament 1761-1783, and the county of Antrim from the latter year till his death, took an active part in debate on the popular side, being a strong supporter of Catholic emancipation.

In the second, which took place in the Church of St John and St Paul, and lasted three days, he undertook to refute innumerable errors in Aristotelians, mathematicians and schoolmen, to conduct his dispute either logically or by the secret doctrine of numbers, &c. According to Aldus, who attended the debate and published an account of it in his dedication to Crichton prefixed to Cicero's "Paradoxa" (1581), the young Scotsman was completely successful.

By his casting vote at a critical period during the debate in the Senate on the tariff bill of 1846, he irretrievably lost his influence with the protectionist element of his native state, to whom he had given assurances of his support of the Tyler tariff of 1842.

The debate waxed fast and furious.

A bill, known as the Force Bill, was introduced in the Senate, and in the debate upon it Webster had an encounter with Calhoun.

On the 8th of June he was appointed on a committee with Jefferson, Franklin, Livingston and Sherman to draft a Declaration of Independence; and although that document was by the request of the committee written by Thomas Jefferson, it was John Adams who occupied the foremost place in the debate on its adoption.

He wandered far and wide, and engaged in much philosophical and theological debate.

The debate lasted five days.

Just playing devil's advocate to raise a bit of honest debate.

I don't even like to say it because I don't have an ounce of evidence, but at the debate Fitzgerald said liquor had been found in Billy's vehicle.

While Dean had been at odds with the man since their first confrontation last January, it was Fitzgerald's venomous comments at the debate that led Dean to now believe him capable of almost anything.

Besides, no one will remember what was said at the debate.

His first recorded intervention in debate in the Long Parliament was on the 9th of November 1640, a few days after the meeting of the House, when he delivered a petition from the imprisoned John Lilburne.

Those have found little favour who brought to the debate only formal criticisms or amplifications of the Darwinian arguments, or re-marshallings of the Darwinian facts, however ably conducted.

Zaimis, as high commissioner, took the oath to the new constitution elaborated after much debate by the Cretan national assembly.

The nickname of "gentle shepherd" was given him because he bored the House by asking over and over again, during the debate on the Cider Bill of 1763, that somebody should tell him "where" to lay the new tax if it was not to be put on cider.

He bore a part in almost every important debate, and was a member of the committee of foreign affairs during the whole time of his service in Congress.

The charge of complicity was freely levelled at Caesar, and indeed was hinted at by Cato in the great debate in the senate.

Egerton focuses on the Canadian reaction to the Cold War debate on human rights.

Whether that was good or bad was still up for debate.

This bouleuterium would have been available on all occasions when Olympia became the scene of conference or debate between the representatives of different states - whether the subject was properly political, as concerning the amphictyonic treaties, or related more directly to the administration of the sanctuary and festival.

We have seen that it had a bouleuterium for purposes of public debate or conference.

Dowdeswell then led the Rockingham party in the House of Commons, taking an active part in debate until his death at Nice on the 6th of February 1775.

He was bitterly disappointed that Becket, on whom he bestowed the primacy, left vacant by the death of Theobald (1162), at once became the champion of clerical privilege; he and the archbishop were no longer on speaking terms when the Constitutions of Clarendon came up for debate.

The Smet de Naeyer ministry which had held office since 1900 was defeated in April 1907 in a debate on the mining law over the proposal concerning the length of the working day.

He was singularly fitted for intellectual debate, but his devotional tendency was equally strong with his logical aptitude.

He took part in the debate on the King's speech, pointing out the views of the Labour party on the industrial situation.