- the art or practice of disputation or controversy: a master of polemics.
- the branch of theology dealing with the history or conduct of ecclesiastical disputation and controversy.
Origin of polemics
- a controversial argument, as one against some opinion, doctrine, etc.
- a person who argues in opposition to another; controversialist.
- Also po·lem·i·cal. of or relating to a polemic; controversial.
Origin of polemic
Examples from the Web for polemics
My hope is that Rand Paul now recognizes that even the most conservative Americans want to hear about policy, not polemics.Rand Paul's Muslim-Bashing Speech
October 14, 2013
The problem is that the experience appears to have left him with an insatiable appetite for polemics.Not a Useful Contribution
October 1, 2012
As the fate of the Soviet Union dramatically showed, modern superpowers cannot be sustained by polemics and police forever.Why China Eclipsed Russia
July 30, 2009
The time which he had to devote to his polemics he regards as lost. '
In the great act of the Reformation their polemics were merely an after-play.
Polemics would ensue; he would have to answer in the papers.Madame Bovary
Polemics are entirely absent from the poetry of his old age.The Master Builder
I should not like to be misunderstood in my polemics against phylogeny.The Science and Philosophy of the Organism
- (functioning as singular) the art or practice of dispute or argument, as in attacking or defending a doctrine or belief
- of or involving dispute or controversy
- an argument or controversy, esp over a doctrine, belief, etc
- a person engaged in such an argument or controversy
Word Origin and History for polemics
1630s, "controversial argument or discussion," from French polémique (16c./17c.), noun use of adjective meaning "disputatious, controversial" (see polemic (adj.)).
1640s, from French polémique (from Middle French polemique) "disputatious, controversial," or directly from Greek polemikos "of war, warlike, belligerent; skilled in war, fit for service; like an enemy, stirring up hostility," from polemos "war," of unknown origin. Related: Polemical (1630s).