What does "devil's advocate" mean?

One who debates from a viewpoint which one may not actually hold, usually to determine its validity or simply for the sake of argument.

What is a synonym for "devil's advocate"?

Common synonyms include: inquisitor, shadowbox.

noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Noun

1
One who debates from a viewpoint which one may not actually hold, usually to determine its validity or simply for the sake of argument. idiomatic
"I don't really believe all that – I was just playing devil's advocate."
2
someone who takes the worse side just for the sake of argument wordnet
3
A canon lawyer appointed by the Church to argue against the canonization of the proposed candidate. historical

Verb

1
To play devil's advocate. informal, intransitive
"Disclaimer: people shouldn't take things I say too personally, I'm often a bit blunt and like to devil's advocate and debate things (another part of this is that I've typically not bothered to post on things that are correct, but to correct things when they're wrong... if you take everything I don't respond to as an affirmation, I'm extremely nice:)"

"I don't really believe all that – I was just playing devil's advocate."

Calque of Latin advocātus diabolī (“the devil’s advocate”), a popular title given to the officer dealing with the canonization process in the 16th c.