DEBATE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Debate

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/dəbˈeɪt/ Listen

noun

Debate n.

1.

A fight or fighting; contest; strife. (Archaic) "On the day of the Trinity next ensuing was a great debate... and in that murder there were slain... fourscore." "But question fierce and proud reply Gave signal soon of dire debate."

2.

Contention in words or arguments; discussion for the purpose of elucidating truth or influencing action; strife in argument; controversy; as, the debates in Parliament or in Congress. "Heard, noted, answer'd, as in full debate."

3.

Subject of discussion. (R.) "Statutes and edicts concerning this debate."

verb

Debate v. t. (past & past part. debated; pres. part. debating)

1.

To engage in combat for; to strive for. "Volunteers... thronged to serve under his banner, and the cause of religion was debated with the same ardor in Spain as on the plains of Palestine."

2.

To contend for in words or arguments; to strive to maintain by reasoning; to dispute; to contest; to discuss; to argue for and against. "A wise council... that did debate this business." "Debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself."

Synonyms: To argue; discuss; dispute; controvert. See Argue, and Discuss.

Debate v. i.

1.

To engage in strife or combat; to fight. (Obs.) "Well could he tourney and in lists debate."

2.

To contend in words; to dispute; hence, to deliberate; to consider; to discuss or examine different arguments in the mind; often followed by on or upon. "He presents that great soul debating upon the subject of life and death with his intimate friends."

See images of 'Debate'

Etymology of 'Debate'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Debate" Quotes from Famous Books

... physical science. The sensation arises when the nervous process is transmitted through the nerves to the conscious centre, often spoken of as the sensorium, the exact seat of which is still a matter of some debate. ...

— Illusions - A Psychological Study • James Sully

... has entered upon politics with uncommon—perhaps with an excessive—ardor. I think he is likely to make an eminent figure in Parliament; for he is a man of very clear head, very patient, of business-like habits, ready in debate, and, moreover, has at once an impressive and engaging delivery as a public speaker. He is generous and charitable as his admirable mother, and careless, even to a fault, of his pecuniary interests. He is a man ...

— Ten Thousand a-Year. Volume 1. • Samuel Warren

... fair blooms in a full and dazzling cluster. Flowers (said a certain divine) are the sweetest things God ever made and forgot to put a soul into. The nature-mystic thankfully acknowledges the sweetness, but he questions the absence of the soul! The degree of individuality is matter for grave debate; but to assume its absence is to place oneself out of focus for gaining true and living insight into nature's being. How much more deep-founded is Wordsworth's faith "that every flower ...

— Nature Mysticism • J. Edward Mercer

... receive the desires above-mentioned: And how beneficial it would be for the more firme settlement of the said union, that a Covenant should be entred into by both Nations: And this forme thereof being by all the foresaid persons taken into most serious debate and consideration, and agreed unto: It was thereupon resolved by them, that it should be presented to the General Assembly, to the Convention of Estates of Scotland, and to the two Houses of the Parliament of England, by their respective Committees and Commissioners, that it might ...

— The Acts Of The General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland

... A recent debate in the House of Congress at Washington developed a unanimous sentiment, that a good cook is more cultured than a pianist, and that girls should not be allowed piano lessons until they learn how to cook good biscuits. We have read of girls "whose heads were stuffed with useless knowledge, but ...

— The Choctaw Freedmen - and The Story of Oak Hill Industrial Academy • Robert Elliott Flickinger

Copyright © 2025 e-Free Translation.com