- the act or an instance of arguing
- a formal academic debate on a thesis
- an obsolete word for conversation
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
dis•pu•ta•tion /ˌdɪspyʊˈteɪʃən/USA pronunciation
n.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- the act of disputing: [uncountable]arguing with careful disputation.[countable]long disputations about what to do.
dis•pu•ta•tion
(dis′pyŏŏ tā′shən),USA pronunciation n.
- the act of disputing or debating;
verbal controversy;
discussion or debate. - an academic exercise consisting of the arguing of a thesis between its maintainer and its opponents.
- [Obs.]conversation.
- Old French
- Latin disputātiōn- (stem of disputātiō), equivalent. to disputāt(us) (past participle of disputāre; disput- (see dispute) + -ātus -ate1) + -iōn- -ion; replacing desputisoun
- Middle English disputacioun 1350–1400
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
disputation /ˌdɪspjʊˈteɪʃən/ n
'disputation' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
dialectic
- argumentation
- Aunt Sally
- controversy
- debate
- disputatious
- dispute
- eristic
- pilpul
- polemicize
- polemics
- sophist