synonyms for controversial
synonyms for controversial
- contentious
- disputed
- dubious
- questionable
- arguable
- argumentative
- contended
- contestable
- controvertible
- debateable
- disputable
- disputatious
- doubtable
- doubtful
- dubitable
- in dispute
- litigious
- moot
- open to discussion
- open to question
- polemical
- suspect
- uncertain
- under discussion
On this page you’ll find 50 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to controversial, such as: contentious, disputed, dubious, questionable, arguable, and argumentative.
Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
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How to use controversial in a sentence
SYNONYM OF THE DAY
OCTOBER 26, 1985
WORDS RELATED TO CONTROVERSIAL
- contentious
- controversial
- disputable
- doubtful
- dubious
- moot
- open to question
- questionable
- sub judice
- uncertain
- unsure
- belligerent
- combative
- contentious
- contrary
- controversial
- disputatious
- factious
- fire-eating
- having a chip on one’s shoulder
- litigious
- opinionated
- pugnacious
- quarrelsome
- salty
- scrappy
- spiky
- touchy
- analytic
- argumentative
- controversial
- dialectical
- persuasive
- polemical
- rationalistic
- arguable
- controversial
- doubtful
- dubious
- moot
- mootable
- problematic
- questionable
- uncertain
- cantankerous
- captious
- caviling
- contentious
- controversial
- dissentious
- litigious
- polemical
- pugnacious
- quarrelsome
- belligerent
- combative
- contentious
- controversial
- disputatious
- eristical
- litigious
- quarrelsome
- scrappy
- testy
Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
What is another word for controversial?
756 synonyms found
Pronunciation:
[ kˌɒntɹəvˈɜːʃə͡l], [ kˌɒntɹəvˈɜːʃəl], [ k_ˌɒ_n_t_ɹ_ə_v_ˈɜː_ʃ_əl]
Table of Contents
-
adj.
• all (adjective)
- controversial.
• arguable (adjective)
- un-sure,
- un sure.
• argumentative (adjective)
- polemical,
- spikier,
- polemic,
- fire-eating,
- Eristic,
- spikiest,
- disputatious,
- spiky,
- scrappy,
- fire eating,
- opinionated,
- having a chip on one’s shoulder,
- salty.
• at issue (adjective)
- in dispute,
- uncertain,
- debateable,
- open to discussion,
- argumentative,
- dubious,
- doubtful,
- dubitable,
- under discussion,
- disputed,
- Contended,
- suspect,
- Doubtable,
- moot,
- litigious,
- contentious.
• contentious (adjective)
- dissident,
- confrontational,
- quarrelsome,
- argumentive,
- resistant,
- conflicting,
- antagonistic,
- contrary,
- dissenting,
- protesting,
- oppositional.
• dialectic (adjective)
- most rationalistic,
- most dialectical,
- rationalistic,
- more dialectical,
- more rationalistic.
• disputable (adjective)
- Mootable.
• disputatious (adjective)
- most dissentious,
- most caviling,
- dissentious,
- more caviling,
- more dissentious.
• eristic (adjective)
- most eristical,
- more eristical.
• live (adjective)
- un-settled,
- un settled.
• moot (adjective)
- open debate,
- most contestable,
- un decided,
- un-resolved,
- un resolved,
- un-decided,
- more contestable.
• open (adjective)
- yet to be decided,
- up for discussion.
• Other relevant words: (adjective)
- questionable,
- unsubstantiated,
- dialectic,
- hard to believe,
- under examination,
- paradoxical,
- open to doubt,
- Controvertible,
- open to debate,
- disputable,
- arguable,
- open,
- contestable,
- at issue,
- Sub Judice,
- Eristical,
- under advisement,
- open to question,
- unproven,
- live.
• questionable (adjective)
- most paradoxical,
- un-confirmed,
- hard believe,
- open doubt,
- most unconfirmed,
- in definite,
- most unproven,
- un-reliable,
- unconfirmed,
- in-definite,
- more paradoxical,
- un-proven,
- un proven,
- hypo thetical,
- un defined,
- un reliable,
- more unproven,
- in determinate,
- most controvertible,
- un-defined,
- pro visional,
- more unconfirmed,
- hypo-thetical,
- more controvertible,
- un confirmed.
• uncertain (adjective)
- mysterious,
- insecure,
- undecided,
- deniable,
- confused,
- changeable,
- ambivalent,
- unsure,
- vague,
- precarious,
- tentative,
- unconvinced.
• unsubstantiated (adjective)
- uncorroborated,
- unsupported.
-
n.
-
•
- at odds (with),
- at cross purposes,
- at loggerheads (with someone),
- on a collision course,
- in contention,
- discordant.
• controversial (noun)
- debatable.
• debatable (noun)
- in question,
- subject to controversy,
- provocative.
• litigiousness (noun)
- fire-eatings,
- opinionateds,
- fireeatings,
- factiou,
- salties,
- disputatiou,
- fire eatings,
- contentiou,
- touchies,
- quarrelsomes,
- spikies,
- pugnaciou,
- litigiou,
- controversials,
- combatives.
• Other relevant words: (noun)
- scrappies,
- belligerents,
- scrappiness,
- Litigiousness,
- Contraries.
-
v.
• Other relevant words: (verb)
- opinion.
-
Other synonyms:
-
•
- divided,
- warring,
- disunited,
- unresolved,
- irreconcilable,
- controversially.
-
•
- forensic.
• argumentative
- dialectical.
• in dispute
- issue.
• Other relevant words:
- hypothetic,
- springy,
- persuasion,
- cranky,
- unvoiced,
- dissenter,
- scrapper,
- spiritualist,
- fly sheet,
- argument,
- arduous,
- garbled,
- fluky,
- come forth,
- publish,
- militant,
- burry,
- ill-humoured,
- dianoetic,
- exist,
- awful,
- medium,
- unproved,
- shakeable,
- subject,
- flee,
- hooligan,
- supply,
- vanish,
- barbed,
- spread out,
- judgment,
- outcome,
- tent-fly,
- indeterminate,
- debate,
- convulse,
- turn over,
- changeful,
- bristly,
- rivalry,
- put out,
- intemperate,
- questioning,
- mollify,
- cryptical,
- scattered,
- consequence,
- dreadful,
- mired,
- undefended,
- sophism,
- briary,
- slick,
- peckish,
- address,
- pilot,
- building complex,
- perverse,
- backbreaking,
- provisionary,
- talk,
- insubordinate,
- distressing,
- alive,
- assailable,
- exit,
- war-ridden,
- unstable,
- abominable,
- result,
- supposititious,
- political party,
- strong,
- embarrassing,
- pestiferous,
- peaky,
- objector,
- discard,
- government issue,
- techy,
- sore,
- at odds,
- divided up,
- pacify,
- afflictive,
- irritating,
- incompatible,
- contradictory,
- event,
- unreconcilable,
- tight,
- give,
- plaintiff in error,
- gruff,
- bemused,
- thug,
- resistive,
- outlet,
- tortuous,
- liken,
- emerge,
- on the table,
- obstinate,
- cast away,
- mouth,
- domain,
- chancy,
- foul,
- emergence,
- capable,
- equate,
- proceeds,
- throw out,
- experience,
- transferrable,
- peevish,
- agonistic,
- number,
- unspeakable,
- unfold,
- hypothetical,
- know,
- comparability,
- shrewmouse,
- digressive,
- rainfly,
- slam dance,
- heavy,
- disputation,
- steamy,
- heart-to-heart,
- intelligent,
- shy,
- progeny,
- composite,
- fell,
- subsist,
- arguing,
- fling,
- slam,
- splenetic,
- orphic,
- assignable,
- viscid,
- high-risk,
- yobo,
- flail,
- badgering,
- bouncy,
- aggressive,
- bristled,
- distressful,
- notion,
- impression,
- clear,
- verbalise,
- bothersome,
- thresh,
- surd,
- dodgy,
- lick,
- disturbing,
- inscrutable,
- street fighter,
- petulant,
- undefendable,
- publication,
- confounded,
- upshot,
- lam,
- lost,
- sturdy,
- awkward,
- pasty,
- sentiment,
- judgement,
- wayward,
- timid,
- finespun,
- snarly,
- severely,
- chatoyant,
- disordered,
- waspish,
- thresh about,
- byzantine,
- umbrageous,
- contestant,
- placate,
- competition,
- guileful,
- belief,
- inhabit,
- divinatory,
- outdoors,
- risky,
- cast out,
- roughneck,
- go,
- toughened,
- intemperately,
- hoodlum,
- fractious,
- perturbing,
- pesky,
- hold out,
- appease,
- shadowed,
- repellent,
- viscous,
- smutty,
- bully,
- torment,
- vital,
- protester,
- iridescent,
- gnarly,
- payoff,
- overt,
- toughie,
- bad,
- yob,
- opinionative,
- laborious,
- mucilaginous,
- shared out,
- vaporize,
- live on,
- soft,
- company,
- mixed-up,
- galling,
- hood,
- patch up,
- take flight,
- shadowy,
- comparison,
- negociate,
- convoluted,
- area,
- flip,
- inharmonic,
- dispose,
- mazed,
- mistrustful,
- cunning,
- mistrust,
- military issue,
- hot,
- voiceless,
- fragile,
- clobber,
- tolerant,
- ruffian,
- baffling,
- exposed,
- assuage,
- jactitate,
- knobbed,
- amazon,
- offspring,
- agonistical,
- unenviable,
- cream,
- reconcile,
- decisive,
- knockout,
- put away,
- take,
- mutable,
- split,
- obscure,
- dual-lane,
- chuck,
- perilous,
- disconnected,
- divisive,
- open up,
- thrash about,
- ruling,
- mystic,
- hardly,
- issuance,
- release,
- vexing,
- toss away,
- lively,
- controversy,
- yield,
- drub,
- contestation,
- toilsome,
- bowl,
- raw,
- rambling,
- utter,
- shaky,
- scratchy,
- grueling,
- crusty,
- unfastened,
- gluey,
- unconnected,
- bellicose,
- suppositious,
- shared,
- supposed,
- elusive,
- flukey,
- dissonant,
- piquant,
- troubling,
- punishing,
- fly front,
- feisty,
- complainant,
- barbellate,
- mosh,
- punk,
- endure,
- bewildered,
- wary,
- topic,
- tent flap,
- wondering,
- untrusting,
- afford,
- sphere,
- battler,
- feeling,
- spread,
- write out,
- knavish,
- view,
- lenify,
- foxy,
- loose,
- egress,
- way out,
- tetchy,
- rugged,
- unsafe,
- unsolved,
- consider,
- effect,
- opposite,
- diffident,
- field,
- polemically,
- equivalence,
- plaguey,
- stadium,
- mystifying,
- tilt,
- knotted,
- upset,
- atrocious,
- secret,
- disharmonious,
- fly ball,
- cryptic,
- disjointed,
- go forth,
- pestering,
- self-opinionated,
- cast aside,
- antipathetical,
- affecting,
- popular opinion,
- unrecorded,
- legal opinion,
- sophistication,
- catchy,
- unmanageable,
- slash,
- toss out,
- frail,
- bedevilment,
- undefined,
- talk terms,
- make up,
- battleful,
- heretical,
- throw away,
- burred,
- curmudgeonly,
- incertain,
- gummy,
- pettish,
- takings,
- touching,
- be,
- dwell,
- notional,
- unsealed,
- fishy,
- gruelling,
- baffled,
- at sea,
- coordination compound,
- tricksy,
- inquisitive,
- tender,
- counter,
- snarled,
- befuddled,
- filthy,
- faint,
- terrible,
- wispy,
- concentrated,
- conveyable,
- teasing,
- irritable,
- wily,
- resilient,
- deep,
- thin-skinned,
- bat,
- fragmented,
- populate,
- pass,
- verbalize,
- huffy,
- scene of action,
- make out,
- antipathetic,
- briery,
- plaguy,
- distrust,
- illogical,
- wing,
- deliberate,
- heterodox,
- funny,
- rowdy,
- occult,
- reverse,
- fighter,
- slippery,
- orbit,
- muggy,
- appellate,
- open air,
- yobbo,
- settle,
- chuck out,
- logical thinking,
- combatant,
- strong-armer,
- heavily,
- abstract thought,
- surface,
- last,
- immune,
- mystical,
- adverse,
- worrisome,
- survive,
- leery,
- transferable,
- hold up,
- thought,
- thinking,
- self-contradictory,
- broken,
- accommodate,
- come out,
- shot,
- bring out,
- on the fence,
- out-of-doors,
- sensible,
- gruntle,
- parlous,
- testy,
- spiny,
- probationary,
- pitch,
- aviate,
- sky,
- crafty,
- goon,
- dim,
- cruddy,
- annoying,
- firmly,
- provisional,
- severe,
- excursive,
- matter,
- cut,
- issuing,
- litigator,
- gentle,
- surmise,
- glutinous,
- sly,
- gnarled,
- hirsute,
- receptive,
- return,
- disoriented,
- opened,
- candid,
- dissentient,
- touch-and-go,
- public opinion,
- sports stadium,
- ruffianly.
• Other relevant words (noun):
- complex,
- intricate,
- shrew,
- plaintiff,
- painful,
- gladiatorial,
- problematical,
- suspicious,
- termagant,
- suppositional,
- nettlesome,
- knotty,
- difficult,
- iffy,
- tough,
- party,
- delicate,
- Confuted,
- controversialist,
- disputant,
- doubted,
- Argumental,
- refutable,
- sticky,
- confutable,
- Questioned,
- speculative,
- cat-and-dog,
- discursive,
- louche,
- Contradictable,
- nasty,
- contested,
- complicated,
- worrying,
- shady,
- hard,
- factious,
- in doubt,
- Mistakable,
- reasoning,
- pro and con,
- defendant,
- hairy,
- litigant,
- virago,
- troublesome,
- involved,
- unconcluded,
- confutative,
- unsettled,
- debater,
- poignant,
- combative,
- critical,
- tricky,
- touchy,
- Discursory,
- vexatious,
- undetermined,
- unpacific,
- ticklish,
- contention,
- prickly,
- sensitive,
- challengeable,
- indefinite,
- appellant,
- shakable,
- disputative,
- ill-humored,
- conjectural,
- arguer,
- pettifogging,
- disreputable,
- belligerent,
- tangled,
- problematic,
- thorny.
How to use «Controversial» in context?
Controversial is a word that people either love or hate. It is often associated with things that annoy or bother them, which is why it is often used in negative ways. However, the word can also have a positive connotation if it is used in a constructive way. For example, being controversial can lead to more people listening to you, which could help you achieve your goals. It can also open people’s minds to new ideas, and help them to see things from a different perspective. In short, being controversial can be a useful tool, if used correctly.
Paraphrases for Controversial:
Paraphrases are highlighted according to their relevancy:
-
Equivalence
-
Adjective
contentious, disputable, disputed, polemical.
-
Adjective
-
Reverse Entailment
-
Adjective
uncontroversial.
-
Adjective
-
Independent
-
Adjective
ambiguous, ambivalent, challenging, critical, delicate, difficult, disagreement, doubtful, exciting, fierce, heated, inconsistent, intractable, litigious, lively, mixed, moot, provocative, tricky, unanimous, Impugned, Conflictive, adversarial.
-
Adjective
-
Other Related
-
Adjective
arguable, argumentative, conflicting, confrontational, contestable, contested, contradictory, controversy, debatable, divisive, dubious, objectionable, paradoxical, problematic, questionable, sensitive, sticking, thorny, undisputed, conflictual, much-discussed.
-
Proper noun, singular
controversy.
-
Adjective
Homophones for Controversial:
- controversially.
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Definitions of Controversial
Controversial Antonyms
Nearby Words
controversy, controversialist, controversially
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PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:1.0 / 2 votes
-
List of paraphrases for «controversial»:
contentious, disputed, contradictory, controversy, polemical, debatable, questionable, contested, divisive, conflicting, uncontroversial, dubious, disputable
How to pronounce controversial?
How to say controversial in sign language?
How to use controversial in a sentence?
-
Cecil Andrus:
I suspect they know what they are planning will be very controversial and, for that reason, want to keep it secret.
-
Supreme Court:
Today’s decision reflects a significant step away from the idea of independent executive branch agencies, although the court limited its holding to whether a single director of The CFPB could be protected from being fired by the President for any reason, its analysis makes clear that a majority of the current Justices are skeptical of any independence within the executive branch — which could open the door to even broader and more significant challenges to older — and less controversial — agencies going forward.
-
President Barack Obama:
I’m sorry, but yes, it is fair to call it a conspiracy, what are you saying? Are you suggesting that the notion that we are creating a plot to take everybody’s guns away so that we can enforce marshal law is a conspiracy? Yes, that is a conspiracy. I would hope you would agree with that. Is that controversial?
-
Mary Watkins:
I wanted to come see it right now because it’s so controversial, i really hope people look at the exhibit as a whole instead of making a snap judgment … without viewing the whole exhibit, you are not getting the full effect.
-
Daniel Post Senning:
Those are important discussions to have, but they are controversial and require a level of discretion, care and tact to navigate. You have to think about your audience and the potential impact of those discussions.
Translations for controversial
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- مثيرة للجدلArabic
- споренBulgarian
- controvertitCatalan, Valencian
- sporný, kontroverzníCzech
- kontroversiel, omstridtDanish
- kontrovers, umstrittenGerman
- αμφιλεγόμενοςGreek
- controversial, controvertidoSpanish
- vastuolulineEstonian
- kiistelty, kiistanalainenFinnish
- umstríddurFaroese
- polémique, controverséFrench
- aighneasach, conspóideachIrish
- connspaideach, connsachailScottish Gaelic
- שנויה במחלוקת, שנוי במחלוקתHebrew
- vitás, vitatott, nagy port kavaróHungarian
- վիճահարույցArmenian
- disputabilInterlingue
- umdeildurIcelandic
- ចម្រូងចម្រាស់Khmer
- kontroversiāls, pretrunīgs, strīdīgsLatvian
- omstredenDutch
- kontroversiellNorwegian
- kontrowersyjnyPolish
- polémicoPortuguese
- controversabil, polemizat, discutabil, controversatRomanian
- спорныйRussian
- kontrovèrzanSerbo-Croatian
- kontraverzný, spornýSlovak
- kontroversiell, omstriddSwedish
- ที่เถียงกันThai
- tartışmalı, çelişmeli, ihtilaflıTurkish
- суперечливийUkrainian
- gây tranh cãiVietnamese
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- English (English)
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All synonyms in one line
arguable, argumentative, captious, debatable, dialectic, en.synonym.one, disputable, disputatious, forensic, improper, indecent, indecisive, indelicate, indiscreet, moot, open, persuasive, quarrelsome, questionable, rationalistic, rhetorical, risqué, scabrous, treacherous, uncertain, undecided, en.synonym.one, undetermined, unsettled.
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