CONTROVERSIALIST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does controversialist mean? 

• CONTROVERSIALIST (noun)
  The noun CONTROVERSIALIST has 1 sense:

1. a person who disputes; who is good at or enjoys controversy

  Familiarity information: CONTROVERSIALIST used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONTROVERSIALIST (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who disputes; who is good at or enjoys controversy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

controversialist; disputant; eristic

Hypernyms ("controversialist" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "controversialist"):

contester (someone who contests an outcome (of a race or an election etc.))

accuser (someone who imputes guilt or blame)

arguer; debater (someone who engages in debate)

denier (one who denies)

hairsplitter (a disputant who makes unreasonably fine distinctions)

logomach; logomachist (someone given to disputes over words)

obstructer; obstructionist; obstructor; resister; thwarter (someone who systematically obstructs some action that others want to take)

quarreler; quarreller (a disputant who quarrels)

crusader; meliorist; reformer; reformist; social reformer (a disputant who advocates reform)

 Context examples 

Chesterton set the whole world laughing with a series of alleged non-partisan essays on the subject, and the whole affair, controversy and controversialists, was well-nigh swept into the pit by a thundering broadside from George Bernard Shaw.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)