disputation

noun

dis·​pu·​ta·​tion ˌdi-spyə-ˈtā-shən How to pronounce disputation (audio)
1
: the action of disputing : verbal controversy
continuous disputation between them
ideological disputations
2
: an academic exercise in oral defense of a thesis by formal logic

Examples of disputation in a Sentence

years of debate and disputation a heated disputation over the true authorship of the poem popularly known as “The Night Before Christmas”
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Jake is a single father who has brought Kristen up in the severe Calvinist tradition, marked by Bible disputations of Talmudic intricacy and by a radical detachment from secular and popular culture. Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 8 Sep. 2023 Seven decades later, this culture of disputation emerged as a central theme in Timothy Garton Ash’s The Magic Lantern, his eyewitness report on the Eastern European revolutions of 1989. Susie Linfield, The New York Review of Books, 11 May 2022 Only death could remove Hoover from office, and his departure eventually did lead to significant reforms, but the notoriety of the FBI has endured—thanks often to fiascos of its own making—as has contentious disputation about it. Robert G. Kaiser, The New York Review of Books, 27 Feb. 2020 Only death could remove Hoover from office, and his departure eventually did lead to significant reforms, but the notoriety of the FBI has endured—thanks often to fiascos of its own making—as has contentious disputation about it. Robert G. Kaiser, The New York Review of Books, 27 Feb. 2020 See All Example Sentences for disputation

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of disputation was in the 14th century

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Cite this Entry

“Disputation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disputation. Accessed 21 Apr. 2025.

Kids Definition

disputation

noun
dis·​pu·​ta·​tion ˌdis-pyə-ˈtā-shən How to pronounce disputation (audio)
: the act of disputing : debate

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