devil's advocate

English

WOTD – 12 December 2011

Etymology

From devil's advocate, a calque of Latin advocātus diabolī (“the devil’s advocate”).

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.
2. (Roman Catholic Church) 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: please add this translation if you can

• 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, f (synígoros tou diavólou)
• Italian: avvocato del diavolo m
• Japanese: 悪魔の代弁者 (akuma no daibensha), あまのじゃく (amanojaku)
• Norwegian: djevelens advokat 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: please add this translation if you can

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

• Japanese: 列聖調査審問検事 (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)