controversial, a.
(kɒntrəˈvɜːʃəl)
Also 6–7 -siall, 6 -tial.
[ad. L. contrōversiāl-is, f. contrōversia: see controversy and -al1.]
1. Subject to controversy; open to discussion; debatable, questionable; disputed.
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 111 Although it be controuersiall whether they bee things indifferente or not. 1650 Fuller Pisgah ii. x. 211 The Priests..had a controversiall City appointed them..so that they must win it before they could wear it. 1800 Med. Jrnl. IV. 157 My opinion on this controversial point. 1847 J. Wilson Chr. North (1857) I. 142 As controversial a point as the authorship of Junius. |
2. Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of controversy; polemical.
| 1659 Vulgar Errors Censured 112 The court of Controversiall Divinity. a 1710 G. Bull Serm. vi. I. 150 (R.) Polemical or controversial divinity is..that part of divinity, which instructs and furnisheth a man with necessary weapons to defend the truth against its enemies. 1839 Keightley Hist. Eng. II. 32 His controversial writings. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 240 The general object of his writing was didactic rather than controversial. |
3. Engaging in or given to controversy; disputatious.
| 1659 Vulgar Errors Censured 112, I wish..that Controversiall Divines would cease to be stinging Satyrists. 1807 Crabbe Library 251 But most she fears the controversial pen. 1851 Helps Comp. Solit. xii. (1874) 210 What a pity it would be if controversy were abandoned to the weak or controversial only. |
4. as n. A controversial matter or argument.
| 1658 Manton Exp. Jude 3 In controversials there is great use of writing, controversies not being so easily determined by the judgment of the ear as the eye. |