Debate Strategies

noun the use of trickery to achieve a political, financial, or legal purpose

• The politician was accused of engaging in chicanery to manipulate the election results.
• I can't believe the amount of chicanery going on in this company.
• I heard he's a master of chicanery, always finding a way to cheat the system.
• Her chicanery in twisting the truth left a trail of confusion and doubt in its wake.

adjective tending to depart from the main point or subject

adverb in a digressive manner

• The professor's lecture was very digressive, often going off on tangents unrelated to the main topic.
• I tend to get digressive when I tell stories, jumping from one detail to another.
• Stop being so digressive and get to the point already!
• Her mind was like a digressive maze, full of twists and turns that led nowhere.

noun the skill of clear and expressive speech, especially of distinct pronunciation and articulation

• She excelled in elocution, delivering her speech with eloquence and precision.
• His elocution skills are top-notch, he can really captivate an audience.
• I'm working on my elocution game, trying to sound more professional.
• Her elocution was like music to my ears, so smooth and soothing.

noun a tactic used in the U.S. Senate to delay or block legislation by making long speeches or introducing irrelevant issues

verb to engage in a filibuster

• The senator used a filibuster to delay the passing of the bill in the legislative assembly.
• The politician talked for hours to filibuster the discussion on the proposed law.
• The congresswoman pulled a filibuster to stall the vote on the controversial policy.
• His endless anecdotes acted as a filibuster, preventing any progress in the meeting.

adjective an adjective that describes an action or command that must be obeyed without question; dictatorial or authoritative in tone

• The judge issued a peremptory order for the witness to testify immediately.
• The teacher gave a peremptory command for the students to stop talking.
• The coach's peremptory decision to bench the star player didn't sit well with the team.
• Her peremptory attitude towards criticism often alienates those around her.

noun meaning: the practice of engaging in petty or trivial arguments, especially for the sake of delaying or complicating a legal process

• The lawyer accused the opposing counsel of engaging in pettifoggery during the trial.
• Stop with all the pettifoggery and just tell me the truth.
• I can't stand all the pettifoggery going on in this argument.
• The political debate was filled with pettifoggery, with both sides avoiding the real issues.

adjective describing someone who is skilled at speaking in a persuasive or convincing manner

• The smooth tongued politician was able to persuade the crowd with his eloquent speech.
• He's so smooth tongued, he can talk his way out of any situation.
• Watch out for that smooth tongued salesman, he might try to trick you into buying something you don't need.
• Her smooth tongued words were like a soothing balm to his troubled mind.

noun a Latin phrase meaning 'to the man', used to describe an argument that attacks a person's character rather than addressing the issue at hand

• The argument presented was based on ad hominem attacks rather than logical reasoning.
• She always resorts to ad hom attacks when she's losing an argument.
• He's just ad hom-ing because he can't handle being wrong.
• Using ad hominem in a debate is like bringing a knife to a gunfight.

noun a word that functions as the name of a specific thing or set of things, such as 'mouth'

verb a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, such as 'take'

pronoun a word that can function by itself as a noun phrase and that refers either to the participants in the discourse, such as 'somebody'

preposition a word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause, such as 'out of'

article a word that is used with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun, such as 'the'

• During the meeting, she was able to take the words out of his mouth by articulating her point clearly and concisely.
• I knew exactly what he was going to say next, so I took the words out of his mouth and finished his sentence for him.
• I totally took the words out of her mouth when I predicted what she was going to say before she could say it.
• His actions spoke louder than words, making it easy for me to take the words out of his mouth and understand his true intentions.

noun a word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea

adjective a word that describes or modifies a noun

• The attorney asked a captious question during the cross-examination.
• The teacher always asks captious questions to make us think harder.
• The interviewer hit me with a captious question out of nowhere.
• His captious questions were like arrows aiming to find faults in my argument.

noun a word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea

adjective a word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun

preposition a word that shows the relationship between a noun (or pronoun) and other words in a sentence

conjunction a word that connects words, phrases, or clauses

• The statement made by the witness was a non-question and did not require a response.
• That was a non-question, don't bother answering it.
• The teacher asked a non-question during the quiz, it was so confusing.
• Her comment about the weather was a non-question, as it had nothing to do with the topic at hand.

noun a word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea

• The journalist asked a gotcha question during the press conference.
• I hate when interviewers try to catch me off guard with a gotcha question.
• That was a total gotcha question, trying to trip me up like that.
• The debate moderator threw a gotcha question at the candidate, hoping to expose any weaknesses.

noun a small carnivorous mammal with a long body and neck and short legs, able to prey on animals larger than itself

verb to avoid doing something by using dishonest or deceitful methods

• He tried to weasel out of taking responsibility for the mistake.
• She always tries to weasel out of doing her share of the work.
• Don't weasel out of your promise to come to the party.
• The politician tried to weasel out of answering the tough questions during the interview.

verb to speak or write verbosely and windily

• The politician continued to bloviate about his plans for economic reform during the press conference.
• I can't stand listening to him bloviate about his achievements all the time.
• Stop bloviating and get to the point already!
• Her words bloviated like a balloon, full of hot air and lacking substance.

noun a noun that refers to the quality or state of being adamant or unyielding in attitude or opinion

• Her adamancy in sticking to the project timeline impressed the entire team.
• I admire your adamancy in refusing to give up on your dreams.
• His adamancy about always being right can be really annoying sometimes.
• The tree's adamancy in standing tall despite the storm symbolized resilience and strength.

noun a person who is appointed to present arguments against a proposed canonization or beatification in the Roman Catholic Church

• The advocatus diaboli presented a compelling argument against the canonization of the proposed saint.
• The advocatus diaboli really knows how to play devil's advocate in any debate.
• I heard the advocatus diaboli is going to try and poke holes in our plan, so we better be prepared.
• Some people see him as the advocatus diaboli, always questioning authority and challenging the status quo.