What's the difference between debate and rambling?

Debate


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To engage in combat for; to strive for.
  • (v. t.) To contend for in words or arguments; to strive to maintain by reasoning; to dispute; to contest; to discuss; to argue for and against.
  • (v. i.) To engage in strife or combat; to fight.
  • (v. i.) To contend in words; to dispute; hence, to deliberate; to consider; to discuss or examine different arguments in the mind; -- often followed by on or upon.
  • (v. t.) A fight or fighting; contest; strife.
  • (v. t.) Contention in words or arguments; discussion for the purpose of elucidating truth or influencing action; strife in argument; controversy; as, the debates in Parliament or in Congress.
  • (v. t.) Subject of discussion.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In a debate in the House of Commons, I will ask Britain, the US and other allies to convert generalised offers of help into more practical support with greater air cover, military surveillance and helicopter back-up, to hunt down the terrorists who abducted the girls.
  • (2) In attacking the motion to freeze the licence fee during today's Parliamentary debate the culture secretary, Andy Burnham, criticised the Tory leader.
  • (3) Amid the acrimony of the failed debate on the Malaysia Agreement, something was missed or forgotten: many in the left had changed their mind.
  • (4) The first experiment gave good results, although only one participant had any previous experience of hinge axis location, and it is debatable whether or not this experience is necessary before satisfactory results can be obtained.
  • (5) She said that even as she approached the gates, she was debating with the boy’s father whether to let the first-grader enter.
  • (6) But because current donor contributions are not sufficient to cover the thousands of schools in need of security, I will ask in the commons debate that the UK government allocates more.
  • (7) In a poll before the debate, 48% predicted that Merkel, who will become Europe's longest serving leader if re-elected on 22 September, would emerge as the winner of the US-style debate, while 26% favoured Steinbruck, a former finance minister who is known for his quick-wit and rhetorical skills, but sometimes comes across as arrogant.
  • (8) Conservative commentators responded with fury to what they believed was inappropriate meddling at a crucial moment in the town hall debate.
  • (9) The citizenship debate is tawdry, conflated and ultimately pointless | Richard Ackland Read more On Wednesday, the prime minister criticised lawyers for backing terrorists.
  • (10) While there has been almost no political reform during their terms of office, there have been several ambitious steps forward in terms of environmental policy: anti-desertification campaigns; tree planting; an environmental transparency law; adoption of carbon targets; eco-services compensation; eco accounting; caps on water; lower economic growth targets; the 12th Five-Year Plan; debate and increased monitoring of PM2.5 [fine particulate matter] and huge investments in eco-cities, "clean car" manufacturing, public transport, energy-saving devices and renewable technology.
  • (11) All 17 candidates are going to be participating in debate night and I think that’s a wonderful opportunity Reince Priebus Republican party officials have defended the decision to limit participation, pointing out that the chasing pack will get a chance to debate separately before the main event.
  • (12) "Medical professionals have perhaps been the least involved [of all sectors] in debates and discussions around abortion, and anti-choice groups have very effectively carried out a deliberate strategy of targeting and influencing health professionals.
  • (13) The only thing the media will talk about in the hours and days after the debate will be Trump’s refusal to say he will accept the results of the election, making him appear small, petty and conspiratorial.
  • (14) Opposition to legal abortion takes magical thinking and a lack of logic | Jessica Valenti Read more The only female Republican candidate for the White House has doubled down on her restrictive position over reproductive rights since a successful debate performance .
  • (15) Although the debate in the US has led to some piecemeal reforms – including the USA Freedom Act and modest policy changes – many of the most intrusive government surveillance programs remain largely intact.
  • (16) The debate certainly hit upon a larger issue: the tendency for people in positions of social and cultural power to tell the stories of minorities for them, rather than allowing minority communities to speak for themselves.
  • (17) On the mothers' internet forum Mumsnet, 44% of women who voted in a post-debate survey said they were now thinking of voting Lib Dem, compared with 23% three weeks ago.
  • (18) Both a voter and Cooper repeatedly asked him if he stood by his comments in the last Republican presidential debate when he insisted that was the case.
  • (19) Before the debate, most of our focus group expected David Cameron to win narrowly “because he’s best at debates”.
  • (20) The treatment of hypertension in pregnancy has been a matter of debate, but the treatment of choice in late pregnancy is delivery.

Rambling


Definition:

  • (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Ramble
  • (a.) Roving; wandering; discursive; as, a rambling fellow, talk, or building.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The persona that emerged during day two of Breivik's 10-week trial was a rambling, repetitive obsessive, fixated on a threat he never truly managed to articulate, but which involved "cultural Marxists", whom he claimed had destroyed Norway by using it as "a dumping ground for the surplus births of the third world".
  • (2) In it he translated Trump’s coarse ramblings into charming straight talk and came up with the phrase “truthful hyperbole”, which captures brilliantly an approach to business and politics in which everything is the greatest, the most beautiful.
  • (3) There is also Mario Draghi at the ECB, rambling on about quantitative easing , a policy that Berlin detests.
  • (4) His statements to the police were rambling and often incoherent.
  • (5) Millions of people are coming out to vote … People that have never voted before.” In a rambling speech, Trump also said he was “disgusted” with companies that are leaving the US, called for better care for veterans and insisted that Isis would be destroyed, although he referred to the San Bernardino attacks as having happened in “Los Angeles” before correcting himself.
  • (6) After eight hours of rallying, Kuti was dismissive of accepting anything short of a full governmental U-turn as he settled down to a spliff in his home, a rambling two-storey affair down a potholed road.
  • (7) This goal was actually obscured by the tangled web of Prince's rambling 1906 book and his other publications on the case.
  • (8) But he'd been doing a bit of holiday cover for daytime DJs, and he has a tendency to, as he puts it, "ramble on": he recently treated the nation to a nine-minute oration on the shortcomings of Madonna's gig at Hyde Park.
  • (9) The caricature of the older person as slow, rambling and confused is a familiar stereotype, reinforced by a media that often focuses on perceived age-related failings in public figures such as Ronald Reagan, Menzies Campbell and, more recently, Rupert Murdoch.
  • (10) There was how he was responsible for one of the most jaw-droppingly crazy moments in deposition history where he responded to the question "is this your handwriting" with a rambling, lurid riff more suitable for a Penthouse letter section than the courtroom.
  • (11) The oft-criticised Active People survey will be replaced with a new measurement tool called Active Lives that will also measure other forms of activity such as cycling to work, dance and rambling as well as activity among children from the age of five for the first time.
  • (12) Fun.” In a 20-minute speech, Palin praised Trump and expressed her desire to “Make America Great Again”, using the opportunity to go on a rambling and confused attack on both parties.
  • (13) I am happy to ramble on about the benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle, but veggie dogs are some real bullshit “But Madeleine,” you say, “hot dogs are disgusting!
  • (14) Donald Trump’s mad hatter ramblings are outside the conservative reform movement and we will continue onward to deny him the nomination.” Kasich did not compete in Indiana as a result of a pact with Cruz and has so far only won his home state of Ohio.
  • (15) He took us on a long-distance ramble through his landmark priorities.
  • (16) During the summer there are regular guided rambles around the traditional Highland estate (a mix of farmed croft land, wood and moorland) and from Plockton to Kyle of Lochalsh, but it's worth keeping an eye out for special events and themed walks throughout the year.
  • (17) A Trump spokesperson emphasized to the Guardian that the Republican frontrunner’s answer was solely in response to the “training camps”, which is a common far rightwing conspiracy theory and not the questioner’s rambling statement before that.
  • (18) In answers that ranged from terse monosyllables to rambling monologues, Cayne said he wished the Securities and Exchange Commission had looked into the way rumours about Bear were spread: "Regardless of whether there was a conspiracy or not, the bottom line is the firm came under attack."
  • (19) I loved the short ramble around, and then the perfect recipe within.
  • (20) The steady feed of rambling selfie videos have prompted widespread mockery and scorn and in some cases have clearly further distracted from the plight of Harney County ranchers whom the militia claim to be backing.