debate
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
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”).
Inflected forms:
form: debates
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: debating
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: debated
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: debated
pos: verb
tags: past
form: debates
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To participate in a debate; to dispute, argue, especially in a public arena.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
reciprocal
examples: "Debate me, coward!" snarled the completely normal intellectual.
a wise council […] that did debate this business
Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself.
He presents that great soul debating upon the subject of life and death with his intimate friends.
When the legislation was debated by the House of Commons, Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner said it was "riddled with holes", while former Conservative Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg said it was "badly written".
gloss: To fight.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
reciprocal
examples: Well knew they both his person, sith of late / With him in bloudie armes they rashly did debate.
[…] wasteful Time debateth with Decay,
To change your day of youth to sullied night
gloss: To engage in combat for; to strive for.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: Volunteers […] thronged to serve under his banner, and the cause of religion was debated with the same ardour in Spain as on the plains of Palestine.
gloss: To consider (to oneself), to think over, to attempt to decide
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: He was debating where he'd spend his holiday.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: After a four-hour debate, the committee voted to table the motion.
gloss: An informal and spirited but generally civil discussion of opposing views.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The debate over the age of the universe is thousands of years old.
There was a bit of a debate over who should pay for the damaged fence.
The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.
gloss: Discussion of opposing views.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: There has been considerable debate concerning exactly how to format these articles.
Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis:[…]. The evolutionary precursor of photosynthesis is still under debate, and a new study sheds light. The critical component of the photosynthetic system is the “water-oxidizing complex”, made up of manganese atoms and a calcium atom.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Strife, discord.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
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
Translations: