Political Debate Terminology

adjective disputatious - inclined to dispute or argue; fond of or causing heated arguments

• The disputatious nature of the debate made it difficult to reach a consensus.
• She's always so disputatious, always arguing about everything.
• I can't stand being around him, he's so damn disputatious all the time.
• The stormy weather matched the disputatious mood of the group.

noun a scene of uproar and disorder; a heated argument or dispute

• The meeting quickly devolved into a donnybrook as tempers flared and voices raised.
• The family reunion turned into a real donnybrook when Uncle Bob started arguing with everyone.
• That party last night was a total donnybrook, people were fighting and breaking things left and right.
• The political debate turned into a donnybrook of conflicting ideas and heated arguments.

noun a rude or mocking remark

verb to make rude or mocking remarks

• The audience began to jeer at the speaker during the debate.
• The kids would jeer at each other whenever someone made a mistake.
• I can't believe they would jeer at her like that, it's so mean.
• The storm seemed to jeer at our attempts to stay dry with its relentless downpour.

verb to make rude and mocking remarks or sounds in order to show contempt or ridicule

adjective characterized by rude and mocking remarks or sounds

• The crowd's jeering only added to the tense atmosphere of the courtroom.
• Stop jeering at me, it's not funny.
• The kids were jeering each other during the game.
• Her inner critic was constantly jeering at her, making her doubt herself.

noun a noisy disturbance or quarrel

• The political debate escalated into a ruction between the two candidates.
• There was a huge ruction at the party last night, everyone was arguing.
• I heard there was a massive ruction at the club last weekend.
• The decision to close the factory caused a ruction among the workers.

verb to discuss or debate thoroughly in order to come to a resolution or decision

• The committee will thrash out the details of the new policy during tomorrow's meeting.
• Let's get together and thrash out a plan for the weekend trip.
• We need to thrash out our differences and come to a resolution.
• The artists thrashed out a masterpiece after hours of collaboration.

noun a person, place, thing, or idea

verb a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence

preposition a word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause

article a word that is used with a noun to specify grammatical definiteness of the noun

• I would rather die in a ditch than compromise my principles.
• If he thinks I'm going to do his work for him, he can go and die in a ditch!
• She can just go die in a ditch for all I care.
• I would fight tooth and nail for what I believe in, I won't die in a ditch without a fight.