Debated

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /dɪˈbeɪtɪd/

Definitions

1. Considered or discussed with differing opinions or arguments
2. Engaged in formal or informal discussion where various views are examined
3. Subject to examination and argument due to contrasting perspectives

Etymology: "Debated" is the past tense and past participle of "debate," so its story is really the story of the verb. The root image is physical: Latin "battuere" meant "to beat," and with the prefix "dis-" ("apart, in different directions") it formed a sense of beating down or fighting against something. Old French "debatre" kept that combative edge, meaning "to fight, contend," and even "to beat down" in a literal sense, and that is the sense English inherited when "debaten" arrived in Middle English. The meaning moved from blows to words gradually. Argument was once a contest of force, and the idea of hitting something hard became the idea of pushing back against an opponent's claims. Over time the physical clash faded while the contest remained, so a debate today is still a kind of fight, just one fought with reasons rather than fists.

Synonyms: discussed, argued, deliberated, considered, contended

Antonyms: accepted, agreed, settled, resolved, conceded