debate.
To participate in a debate; to dispute, argue, especially in a public arena.
Meaning & usage
To participate in a debate; to dispute, argue, especially in a public arena.
"Debate me, coward!" snarled the completely normal intellectual.
To fight.
To engage in combat for; to strive for.
To consider (to oneself), to think over, to attempt to decide
He was debating where he'd spend his holiday.
Where this word comes from
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”).
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.
After a four-hour debate, the committee voted to table the motion.
An informal and spirited but generally civil discussion of opposing views.
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.
Discussion of opposing views.
There has been considerable debate concerning exactly how to format these articles.
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.
Strife, discord.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English debat, borrowed from Old French debat, deverbal of debatre, see Etymology 1 for more.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.