polemic
3
9.1
- noun
- /pəˈlɛmɪk/
- Formal
:
polémica
- The article was a passionate polemic attacking the government's stance on climate change.
- anti-polemic
- Jewish polemic
- Christian polemic
Now it's become a left wing polemic.
- Now it's become a left wing polemic.
- Any other polemic or anything that you've ever heard about yourself and you're like, what the hell?
Examples
-
But political polemic is not the real point of these essays.
Academic text (2003) -
What is important is that the author is familiar with an important Jewish polemic of the period.
Academic text (1992) -
- I thought it was your polemic against the corrupt American value system.
-
Obviously, this is a big subject area and a controversial one, certain to generate even more polemic.
Academic text (2002) -
Personally, I was educated by reading about the polemic surrounding the elevator incident.
Blog text (29) -
King's polemic against black passivity was thus also about the sources of human dignity.
Academic text (2003) -
The attacks on FNC are a result of a polemic created by George Soros and Media Matters.
Blog text (13) -
The note of dissatisfaction and polemic, as elsewhere in the sayings, is strong.
Academic text (1991) -
To this extent, Dewey's criticism is not surprising since it falls perfectly within his polemic against metaphysical thinking.
Academic text (2017) -
His polemic provoked a debate and anticipated Napoleon's promulgation of the civil code in 1804.
Academic text (2015)
Synonyms
3
8.7
Strong public writing and speech that attacks one view and supports another
A long angry speech that criticizes someone or something
Antonyms
How Critical
Surface Forms
Morphology
polemic = polem + ic
The form contains the combining form 'polem-' + the adjective-forming suffix '-ic', but 'polem-' is not a standalone English word, so learners cannot reliably derive the meaning from the parts.
Etymology
The word polemic comes from an old Greek word polemos meaning 'war' and polemikos meaning 'warlike'. So a polemic is like a 'war of words', a strong written or spoken attack on an idea.