CONTROVERSY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does controversy mean? 

• CONTROVERSY (noun)
  The noun CONTROVERSY has 1 sense:

1. a contentious speech act; a dispute where there is strong disagreement

  Familiarity information: CONTROVERSY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONTROVERSY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A contentious speech act; a dispute where there is strong disagreement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

arguing; argument; contention; contestation; controversy; disceptation; disputation; tilt

Context example:

they were involved in a violent argument

Hypernyms ("controversy" is a kind of...):

conflict; difference; difference of opinion; dispute (a disagreement or argument about something important)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "controversy"):

argle-bargle; argy-bargy (a verbal dispute; a wrangling argument)

firestorm (an outburst of controversy)

sparring (an argument in which the participants are trying to gain some advantage)

polemic (a controversy (especially over a belief or dogma))

fight (an intense verbal dispute)

Derivation:

controversial (marked by or capable of arousing controversy)

 Context examples 

Many hundred large volumes have been published upon this controversy: but the books of the Big-endians have been long forbidden, and the whole party rendered incapable by law of holding employments.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Although the subject of some controversy, the most likely route for the biosynthesis of anandamide starts with the formation of phosphatidylethanolamine from arachidonic acid and ethanolamine.

(Anandamide Metabolism Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

These features have evoked fascination and controversy since their 2011 discovery, as possible markers for unexpected liquid water or brine on an otherwise dry planet.

(Recurring Martian Streaks: Flowing Sand, Not Water?, NASA)

The publication of "The Shame of the Sun" had started a controversy and precipitated the landslide in his favor.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The capacity for malignant transformation of metaplastic cells is a subject of controversy.

(Metaplasia, NCI Thesaurus)

The question of whether or not the Peutz-Jeghers polyp is precancerous is a matter of controversy.

(Peutz-Jeghers Polyp, NCI Thesaurus)

Though controversy still surrounds the origin, abundance and history of water on Mars, this discovery helps resolve the question of where the “missing Martian water” may have gone.

(New Evidence for a Mars Water Reservoir, NASA)

PROFESSOR SUMMERLEE (springing to his feet): 'Might I explain, your Grace, that this man is my personal enemy ever since our controversy in the Quarterly Journal of Science as to the true nature of Bathybius?'

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Contents include: Peer-reviewed reports on major oncology studies from around the world; Editorials and commentary by leading experts on key articles and current controversies in cancer; The latest news from the oncology community, book reviews, and conference and position announcements.

(Journal of the National Cancer Institute, NCI Thesaurus)

So that controversies, wranglings, disputes, and positiveness, in false or dubious propositions, are evils unknown among the Houyhnhnms.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)