different between debate vs impugn

English

Etymology

From Old French debatre (“to fight, contend, debate, also literally to beat down”), from Romanic desbattere, from Latin dis- (“apart, in different directions”) + battuere (“to beat, to fence”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??be?t/
• Rhymes: -e?t

Noun

debate (countable and uncountable, plural debates)

1. 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.

2. An informal and spirited but generally civil discussion of opposing views.
3. (uncountable) Discussion of opposing views.
4. (frequently in the French form débat) 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.
5. (obsolete) Strife, discord.

Translations

Verb

debate (third-person singular simple present debates, present participle debating, simple past and past participle debated)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To participate in a debate; to dispute, argue, especially in a public arena. [from 14th c.]
   • August 11, 1709, Isaac Bickerstaff (pseudonym for Richard Steele or (in some later numbers of the journal) Joseph Addison), The Tatler No. 53

     He presents that great soul debating upon the subject of life and death with his intimate friends.

2. (obsolete, intransitive) To fight. [14th-17th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.viii:

     Well knew they both his person, sith of late / With him in bloudie armes they rashly did debate.

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 15:

     ... wasteful Time debateth with Decay,

     To change your day of youth to sullied night

3. (obsolete, transitive) To engage in combat for; to strive for.
   • 1838, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic

     Volunteers […] thronged to serve under his banner, and the cause of religion was debated with the same ardour in Spain as on the plains of Palestine.

4. (transitive) To consider (to oneself), to think over, to attempt to decide

Derived terms

• debater

Related terms

• debatable
• debation

Translations

Further reading

• debate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• debate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• beated, bed tea, bed-tea, betaed

Albanian

Noun

debate m pl

1. indefinite plural of debat

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /de.?ba.t?i/

Noun

debate m (plural debates)

1. debate

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:debate.

Verb

debate

1. third-person singular present indicative of debater
2. second-person singular imperative of debater

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:debate.

Spanish

Noun

debate m (plural debates)

1. debate, discussion

Related terms

• debatir

Verb

debate

1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of debatir.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of debatir.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of debatir.

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French impugner, from Latin impugn?, from im- + pugn? (“fight”), from pugnus (“fist”), as in English pugilism (“fighting with fists, boxing”); from Proto-Indo-European roots.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?pju?n/

• Homophone: impune

Verb

impugn (third-person singular simple present impugns, present participle impugning, simple past and past participle impugned)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To assault, attack.
2. (transitive) To verbally assault, especially to argue against an opinion, motive, or action; to question the truth or validity of.

Quotations

• 1859 — John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

  Let the opinions impugned be the belief in a God and in a future state, or any of the commonly received doctrines of morality.

• 1864 — Abraham Lincoln, Fourth State of the Union Address

  There have been much impugning of motives and much heated controversy as to the proper means and best mode of advancing the Union cause.

• 1872 — Benjamin Disraeli, Conservative Principles

  At home, at a period of immense prosperity, with a people contented and naturally loyal, we find to our surprise the most extravagant doctrines professed and the fundamental principles of our most valuable institutions impugned, and that too by persons of some authority.

• 1889 — Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, ch. xxv

  It is a hardy question, fair sir and Boss, since it doth go far to impugn the wisdom of even our holy Mother Church herself.

• 1922 — Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Chessmen of Mars, ch. 21

  He is not dead. When he revives he will return to his quarters with a fine tale of his bravery and there will be none to impugn his boasts.

Synonyms

• (to question the validity of): call into question, challenge, contest, contradict, deny, disavow, dispute, oppugn, negate

Antonyms

• (to question the validity of): authenticate, endorse, support

Derived terms

• impugnable
• impugner

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Muping, umping