noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   One who regularly engages in public controversies.

   "Richard Dawkins has become a leading controversialist in a few areas."

2. 2
   a person who disputes; who is good at or enjoys controversy wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

polemicapologistdebaterdisputantdisputanteristic

Example

More examples

"Richard Dawkins has become a leading controversialist in a few areas."

Etymology

From controversial + -ist.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.