CONTROVERT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does controvert mean? 

• CONTROVERT (verb)
  The verb CONTROVERT has 2 senses:

1. be resistant to

2. prove to be false or incorrect

  Familiarity information: CONTROVERT used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONTROVERT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they controvert    ... he / she / it controverts   
Past simple: controverted   
Past participle: controverted   
-ing form: controverting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be resistant to

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

contradict; controvert; oppose

Context example:

The board opposed his motion

Hypernyms (to "controvert" is one way to...):

rebut; refute (overthrow by argument, evidence, or proof)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "controvert"):

blackball; negative; veto (vote against; refuse to endorse; refuse to assent)

dissent; protest; resist (express opposition through action or words)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Prove to be false or incorrect

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

controvert; rebut; refute

Hypernyms (to "controvert" is one way to...):

confute; disprove (prove to be false)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

I did not venture to controvert this opinion, but I made a good supper, which it greatly satisfied her to see me do.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I have a witness to the fact, whose testimony even you, sir, will scarcely controvert.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

When the ladies returned to the drawing-room, there was little to be done but to hear Lady Catherine talk, which she did without any intermission till coffee came in, delivering her opinion on every subject in so decisive a manner, as proved that she was not used to have her judgement controverted.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)