controversial

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɒn.tɹəˈvɜː.ʃəl/, /ˌkɒn.tɹəˈvɜː.sjəl/

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑn.tɹəˈvɝ.ʃəl/, /ˌkɑn.tɹəˈvɝ.sjəl/
• Hyphenation: con‧tro‧ver‧sial

Adjective

controversial (comparative more controversial, superlative most controversial)

1. Arousing controversy—a debate or discussion of opposing opinions.
   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     Whole libraries of controversial books.

   • 2021 September 16, Maher, Bill, Bill Maher on Getting Anger from Both Sides, Our Divided Country & Norm Macdonald’s Passing‎^[1], Jimmy Kimmel Live!, 7:52 from the start:

     MAHER: Well, whatever. I just said we shouldn't have two national anthems. We're one country. It's not a good idea. We've seen what happens in other countries where you have, you know- when you separate things out. That's never where America was. That's never where liberalism was. It was about being a colorblind society. So, a new national anthem? Fine. I'll go for that. But not two. Because that leads down a road we don't wanna go. Applause.
     KIMMEL: Do you feel like...
     MAHER: Thank you.
     KIMMEL: Hey there's a lot of fear in the air and generally, you don't want to be caught applauding something that might be controversial.
     MAHER: I couldn't give a fuck.
     KIMMEL: I wasn't talking about you.

Synonyms

• contentious
• contested

 

Antonyms

• incontrovertible
• noncontroversial, non-controversial
• uncontroversial

 

Derived terms

• controversialness

 

Related terms

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

 

Collocations

Nouns often used with "controversial"

topic, subject, work, author, method, etc.

Translations

arousing controversy

• Armenian: վիճահարույց (hy) (vičaharuycʿ)
• Azerbaijani: mübahisəli
• Belarusian: спрэ́чны (spréčny), спо́рны (spórny)
• Bulgarian: спо́рен (bg) (spóren)
• Catalan: controvertit, polèmic (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 有爭議／有争议 (yǒuzhēngyì)

• Czech: kontroverzní (cs), sporný (cs)
• Danish: kontroversiel, omstridt
• Dutch: omstreden (nl)
• Esperanto: polemika
• Estonian: vastuoluline
• Faroese: umstríddur
• Finnish: kiistelty (fi), kiistanalainen (fi)
• French: controversé (fr), polémique (fr)
• Galician: controvertido
• Georgian: საკამათო (saḳamato)
• German: umstritten (de), kontrovers (de)
• Greek: αμφιλεγόμενος (el) (amfilegómenos)
• Gujarati: વિવાદાસ્પદ (vivādāspad)
• Hebrew: שָׁנוּי בְּמַחֲלֹקֶת‎ (he) (shanúy bemaḥlóqet)
• Hindi: विवादास्पद (hi) (vivādāspad)
• Hungarian: vitás (hu), vitatott (hu), megosztó, ellentmondásos (hu), nagy port kavaró, sok vitát kiváltó
• Icelandic: umdeildur
• Indonesian: kontroversial (id)
• Irish: conspóideach, aighneasach
• Italian: controverso (it)
• Japanese: 論争の的の
• Khmer: ចម្រូងចម្រាស់ (cɑmrooŋ cɑmreah)
• Korean: 논쟁의 여지가있는 (nonjaeng'ui yeojigainneun)
• Latin: contrōversus
• Latvian: pretrunīgs, strīdīgs, kontroversiāls
• Maori: whakawehewehe, kūraruraru
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kontroversiell, omstridt, omstridd

  Nynorsk: kontroversiell, omstridd

• Polish: kontrowersyjny (pl)
• Portuguese: polémico (pt) (Portugal), polêmico (pt) (Brazil), controverso (pt)
• Romanian: controversabil (ro), controversat (ro), discutabil (ro), polemizat
• Russian: спо́рный (ru) (spórnyj), сомни́тельный (ru) (somnítelʹnyj), дискуссио́нный (ru) (diskussiónnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: connsachail, connspaideach
• Serbo-Croatian: kontrovèrzan (sh)
• Slovak: kontraverzný, sporný
• Spanish: polémico (es), controvertido (es), controversial (Latin America, Anglicism)
• Swedish: kontroversiell (sv), omstridd (sv)
• Turkish: tartışmalı (tr), ihtilaflı, çelişmeli (tr)
• Ukrainian: спі́рний (spírnyj), дискусі́йний (dyskusíjnyj)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: dadleuol (cy)

See also

• controvertible
• debatable
• disputable
• disputatious
• polemical

 

Further reading

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

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kontɾobeɾˈsjal/ [kõn̪.t̪ɾo.β̞eɾˈsjal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: con‧tro‧ver‧sial

Adjective

controversial (plural controversiales)

1. (Latin America) controversial

   Synonym: controvertido

   • 2015 December, “"Estamos en el comienzo de un reexamen del capitalismo"”, in El Pais (Uruguay)‎^[2]:

     Esto comienza con los acuerdos de (protección de) inversión que han sido controversiales por cerca de veinte años.

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

Derived terms

• controversialmente

Related terms

• controversia

Further reading

• “controversial”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014