controversial
adjective
Simple meaning
Likely to cause strong public disagreement or debate.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kahntruhvurshuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kɑntɹəˈvɝʃəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Marked by or capable of arousing controversy
“The issue of the death penalty is highly controversial.”
Arousing or likely to arouse controversy.
Engaging in or given to controversy; disputatious, argumentative.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
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More ways to use controversial
- “The issue of the death penalty is highly controversial.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Word Family
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: marked by or capable of arousing controversy
Antonyms
Sense: marked by or capable of arousing controversy
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.