controversial

English

Etymology

From Latin controversia (“controversy”) + -al; see controversy.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA: /kɑn.tɹə.ˈvɝ.ʃəl/, /kɑn.tɹə.ˈvɝ.si.əl/

Adjective

controversial (comparative more controversial, superlative most controversial)

1. Arousing controversy—a debate or discussion of opposing opinions.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Macaulay:

     Whole libraries of controversial books.

Usage notes

• Nouns often used with "controversial": topic, subject, work, author, method, etc.

Antonyms

• uncontroversial
• noncontroversial

Derived terms

• controversialness

Related terms

• controversialist
• controversiality
• controversy
• controvert
• controverter
• controvertible

Translations

arousing controversy

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Azeri: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: спорен (bg) (spóren)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 有爭議的, 有争议的 (yǒu zhēngyì de)

• Czech: kontroverzní (cs), sporný (cs)
• Danish: kontroversiel, omstridt
• Dutch: omstreden (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: vastuoluline (et)
• Faroese: umstríddur (fo)
• Finnish: kiistelty, kiistanalainen
• French: controversé (fr), polémique (fr) m and f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: umstritten (de), kontrovers (de)
• Greek: αμφιλεγόμενος (el) (amfilegomenos)
• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: שנוי במחלוקת (shanui be'makhloqet) m, שנויה במחלוקת (shnuia be'makhloqet) f
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: vitás (hu), vitatott (hu), nagy port kavaró (hu)

• Icelandic: umdeildur (is)
• Interlingue: disputabil (ie)
• Irish: conspóideach (ga), aighneasach (ga)
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: pretrunīgs (lv), strīdīgs (lv), kontroversiāls (lv)
• Norwegian: kontroversiell (no)
• Polish: kontrowersyjny (pl)
• Portuguese: polémico (pt)
• Romanian: controversabil (ro) m and n, controversat (ro) m and n, discutabil (ro) m and n, polemizat (ro) m and n
• Russian: спорный (ru) (spórnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: connsachail (gd), connspaideach (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian: kontrovèrzan (sh)
• Slovak: kontraverzný (sk), sporný (sk)
• Spanish: controversial (es), controvertido (es)
• Swedish: kontroversiell (sv), omstridd (sv)
• Turkish: tartışmalı (tr), ihtilaflı (tr), çelişmeli (tr)
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can

See also

• disputatious
• polemical
• disputable
• controvertible
• debatable

External links

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