polemics

[ puh-lem-iks, poh- ]

noun

, (used with a singular verb)

1. the art or practice of disputation or controversy:

   a master of polemics.

2. the branch of theology dealing with the history or conduct of ecclesiastical disputation and controversy.

polemics

/ pəˈlɛmɪks /

noun

1. functioning as singular the art or practice of dispute or argument, as in attacking or defending a doctrine or belief

Word History and Origins

Origin of polemics¹

First recorded in 1630–40; polemic, -ics

Example Sentences

The New York Times, which had vigorously supported the Iraq invasion published four op-eds defending Strauss, polemics that employed ridicule and condescension against the unsophisticated critics who supposedly didn’t “get” the philosopher’s subtle arguments.

From Salon

In several senses, Walsh’s book is the polar opposite of Goldberg’s: It’s history, not polemics; it locates actual fascists on the right, where they actually were, and — most fundamentally — it meticulously includes the sort of messy, contradictory information that Goldberg’s polemic thoroughly excluded.

From Salon

Its signers endorsed the usual Zionist polemics, fitting all too neatly into Glazer’s description of “Jewishness and the Holocaust” being “hijacked by an occupation.”

From Salon

The glory days when Vivian Gornick and Ellen Willis were dissecting the gender politics of everyday life, Stanley Crouch was turning cultural polemics into a new form of jazz and James Wolcott was sharpening his all-purpose critical switchblade may have been over.

From Los Angeles Times

The trial transported observers back to 2012, the heyday of the blogosphere and an era of rancorous polemics over the existence of global warming, what the psychology researcher and climate misinformation blogger John Cook called “a feral time.”

From New York Times