(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.
Scuffle
Definition:
(v. i.) To strive or struggle with a close grapple; to wrestle in a rough fashion.
(v. i.) Hence, to strive or contend tumultuously; to struggle confusedly or at haphazard.
(n.) A rough, haphazard struggle, or trial of strength; a disorderly wrestling at close quarters.
(n.) Hence, a confused contest; a tumultuous struggle for superiority; a fight.
(n.) A child's pinafore or bib.
(n.) A garden hoe.
Example Sentences:
(1) The protesters were confronted by a much larger group of pro-Kremlin activists, which led to scuffles.
(2) When the owners of Manchester City finally managed to persuade Pep Guardiola to oversee the next stage of their masterplan it is fair to say they probably did not expect to be approaching Christmas scuffling with a team of Watford’s limitations for their first league win at home in almost three months.
(3) The trials of those arrested over the scuffles on 6 May 2012 have become known as the Bolotnaya affair, after the square in which the clashes took place.
(4) Heather Titley said she saw Cameron grab the collar of Noye's shirt and scuffle with him at the Swanley interchange of the M25.
(5) One BNP supporter who was injured in a scuffle said: "I've put my best suit on today and come out for a peaceful demonstration and this is what's happened.
(6) Passengers scuffled with a man suspected of leaving the bag before the blast went off but failed to detain him.
(7) A minor scuffle erupts and four white shirts immediately converge on the referee and after a minor argument both players are booked.
(8) Minor scuffles were reported, but the ranks of riot police mostly looked on as largely peaceful and white-collar crowd - variously estimated at 10,000 to 70,000 - assembled without a permit in People's Square.
(9) Mostly, I thought about being at Barack Obama’s inauguration ; not at the ceremony itself, but the back of the crowd approximately three miles away, in frigid DC weather and surrounded by thousands of other scuffling, freezing, depressed-looking people, trying to squeeze a sense of occasion from what felt like being at the back of a demo.
(10) "Mubarak is the solution," chanted the crowd, some of whom also briefly scuffled with the supporters of people killed during the 2011 uprising.
(11) Scuffles break out and four protesters are arrested, bundled off to the station in the same tuk-tuks they arrived in.
(12) Surveillance video taken from a Ukrainian airport shows Klymenko and the country's chief prosecutor scuffling with guards who try to detain them and overturning a metal detector gate as they try to reach their plane.
(13) Chad's Hissène Habré removed from Senegal court as scuffle breaks out Read more Habré had refused legal representation, saying he did not recognise the court’s jurisdiction, and vowed not to cooperate with the trial.
(14) More pressure from LA, a scuffle behind the net and Dominic Williams cross-checks King and he will go to the box.
(15) Fifteen people were arrested a day after the results when scuffles broke out between police and protesters outside Downing Street.
(16) The voice of the survivors is being ignored, the concerns of the people and many clergy in Chile are being ignored, and the safety of children in this diocese is being left in the hands of a bishop about whom there are grave concerns for his commitment to child protection.” Barros was installed as bishop of the southern Chilean diocese of Osorno last weekend amid unprecedented opposition, and scuffles inside the cathedral by protesters who say he is unfit to lead.
(17) According to the weekly magazine Friday, the scuffle took place in the early hours of 16 January, when the wrestler should have been preparing for his bout later the same day.
(18) eKathimerini.com reports that "a few dozen pensioners" demanded a meeting with health minister Andreas Lykourentzos, and briefly scuffled with police.
(19) There were scuffles in Cambridge as crowds attempted to storm the university's Senate House.
(20) Over the past few years, the two teams have developed a bit of a dislike for each other stemming from a preseason game that was called early after a tackle by former KC midfielder Roger Espinoza led to a scuffle between the two teams.