polemical
Americanadjective
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consisting of or relating to a polemic; controversial or divisive.
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argumentative, combative or difficult.
noun
Other Word Forms
Explanation
The adjective polemical describes something related to an argument or controversy. To keep the peace, avoid discussing politics at Thanksgiving, which usually deteriorates into a polemical argument with Uncle Bob. Better stick to football or apple versus pumpkin pie. Polemical is the adjective form of the noun polemic, which itself comes from the Greek word, polemos, meaning "war." Use polemical to describe a controversy or argument that could end up as a huge conflict, because polemical refers to a major disagreement. The word is often used to describe speech and writing — a polemical discussion or a polemical essay — that usually starts a war of words.
Vocabulary lists containing polemical
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The Scarlet Letter
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Introducing Rhetoric: Using the "Available Means" (Chapter 1)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Polemical and incendiary asides follow thick and fast.
From The Guardian • Feb. 4, 2011
They may be rudely divided into five groups: the Polemical Roarers, the Confessional Sufferers, the Tiny Imagists, the Compulsive Reporters and the Cult Poets.
From Time Magazine Archive
A little later, W. Bodham Donne, a Norfolk man and acute critic, said, “We all read Mr. Borrow’s books,” but lamented his “plunge into the worse than Irish bogs of Polemical Protestantism.”
From Souvenir of the George Borrow Celebration Norwich, July 5th, 1913 by Hooper, James
Polemical writings are, as a rule, only thoroughly understood if one reads both sides of the question.
From Dictatorship vs. Democracy (Terrorism and Communism) by Trotzky, Leon Davidovich
"Polemical enemies, I should say," Marion replied sharply.
From With Edge Tools by Chatfield-Taylor, H. C. (Hobart Chatfield)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
