devil's advocate

English

WOTD – 12 December 2011

Etymology

Calque of Latin advocātus diabolī (“the devil’s advocate”), a popular title given to the officer dealing with the canonization process in the 16th c.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

devil's advocate (plural devil's advocates)

1. (idiomatic) One who debates from a viewpoint which he or she may not actually hold, usually to determine its validity or simply for the sake of argument.

   I don't really believe all that – I was just playing devil's advocate.

   • 1985, Albert Brooks as David Howard, Lost in America, written by Albert Brooks:

     Now, play devil's advocate. Can't you live 20 years on $145,000 if you're living out of a motor home and just eating and painting and writing books? I mean, this is what we talked about when we were 19. Remember, we kept saying, "Let's find ourselves," but we didn't have a dollar! So, we watched television instead.

2. (historical, Roman Catholicism) A canon lawyer appointed by the Church to argue against the canonization of the proposed candidate.

Translations

debater

• Arabic: محامي الشيطان‎ m
• Catalan: advocat del diable m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 故意唱反調的人, 故意唱反调的人 (gùyì chàngfǎndiào de rén)

• Czech: ďáblův advokát m
• Danish: djævelens advokat c
• Dutch: advocaat van de duivel
• Finnish: paholaisen asianajaja
• French: avocat du diable (fr) m
• German: des Teufels Advokat m, Advocatus Diaboli (de)

• Greek: συνήγορος του διαβόλου m or f (synígoros tou diavólou)
• Italian: avvocato del diavolo m
• Japanese: わざと反対意見を述べる人 (わざとはんたいいけんをのべるじん, wazato hantaiiken o noberujin), あまのじゃく (amanojaku)
• Norwegian: djevelens advokat m
• Polish: adwokat diabła (pl) m
• Portuguese: advogado do diabo (pt) m
• Romanian: avocatul diavolului
• Russian: адвока́т дья́вола (ru) m (advokát dʹjávola)
• Spanish: abogado del diablo m
• Swedish: djävulens advokat c

canon lawyer

• Catalan: advocat del diable m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 列聖審查官, 列圣审查官 (lièshèng shěncháguān)

• Czech: ďáblův advokát m
• Danish: djævelens advokat c
• Finnish: paholaisen asianajaja
• German: des Teufels Advokat m, Advocatus Diaboli (de)
• Greek: συνήγορος του διαβόλου m or f (synígoros tou diavólou)
• Italian: avvocato del diavolo m

• Japanese: 列聖調査審問検事 (れっせいちょうさしんもんけんじ, ressei chōsa shinmon kenji)
• Latin: advocatus diaboli
• Norwegian: djevelens advokat m
• Polish: adwokat diabła (pl) m
• Portuguese: advogado do diabo (pt) m
• Romanian: avocatul diavolului m
• Russian: адвока́т дья́вола (ru) m (advokát dʹjávola)
• Spanish: abogado del diablo m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} avocat du diable (fr)
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} פרקליט השטן‎
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} velnio advokatas

• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} vražji odvjetnik
• Ukrainian: ^{(please verify)} адвокат диявола (advokat dyjavola)

Further reading

• “devil's advocate” in the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• devil's advocate on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Advocatus Diaboli in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)