Controversial

//ˌkɒn.tɹəˈvɜː.ʃəl//

Synonyms for "controversial" (59 found)

Ranked by relevance and common usage.

Closest matches (12)

Strong matches (18)

Adjective(2 words)
contentiouscontested

Related words (29)

Related word relations

OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.

8 relation types

Antonyms

4 entries

Synonyms

2 entries

Related terms

11 entries

derived

6 entries

derived from

1 entries

etymologically related_to

2 entries

related to

11 entries

similar

12 entries

Translations

86 translations across 48 languages.

Powered by Wiktionary

Arabic

2 entries
  • مَحَل جَدَل adj (arousing controversy)
  • مُثِيرٌ لِلْجَدَل adj (arousing controversy)

Armenian

1 entries
  • վիճահարույց adj (arousing controversy)

Azerbaijani

1 entries
  • mübahisəli adj (arousing controversy)

Belarusian

2 entries
  • спо́рны adj (arousing controversy)
  • спрэ́чны adj (arousing controversy)

Bulgarian

1 entries
  • спо́рен adj (arousing controversy)

Catalan

2 entries
  • controvertit adj (arousing controversy)
  • polèmic adj (arousing controversy)

Chinese Mandarin

1 entries
  • 有爭議 /有争议 adj (arousing controversy)

Czech

2 entries
  • kontroverzní adj (arousing controversy)
  • sporný adj (arousing controversy)

Danish

2 entries
  • kontroversiel adj (arousing controversy)
  • omstridt adj (arousing controversy)

Dutch

1 entries
  • omstreden adj (arousing controversy)

Esperanto

1 entries
  • polemika adj (arousing controversy)

Estonian

1 entries
  • vastuoluline adj (arousing controversy)

Faroese

1 entries
  • umstríddur adj (arousing controversy)

Finnish

2 entries
  • kiistanalainen adj (arousing controversy)
  • kiistelty adj (arousing controversy)

French

2 entries
  • controversé adj (arousing controversy)
  • polémique adj (arousing controversy)

Galician

1 entries
  • controvertido adj (arousing controversy)

Georgian

1 entries
  • საკამათო adj (arousing controversy)

German

2 entries
  • kontrovers adj (arousing controversy)
  • umstritten adj (arousing controversy)

Greek

1 entries
  • αμφιλεγόμενος adj (arousing controversy)

Gujarati

1 entries
  • વિવાદાસ્પદ adj (arousing controversy)

Hebrew

1 entries
  • שָׁנוּי בְּמַחֲלֹקֶת adj (arousing controversy)

Hindi

1 entries
  • विवादास्पद adj (arousing controversy)

Hungarian

4 entries
  • ellentmondásos adj (arousing controversy)
  • megosztó adj (arousing controversy)
  • nagy port kavaró adj (arousing controversy)
  • sok vitát kiváltó adj (arousing controversy)

Icelandic

1 entries
  • umdeildur adj (arousing controversy)

Indonesian

1 entries
  • kontroversial adj (arousing controversy)

Irish

2 entries
  • aighneasach adj (arousing controversy)
  • conspóideach adj (arousing controversy)

Italian

1 entries
  • controverso adj (arousing controversy)

Japanese

1 entries
  • 論争の的の adj (arousing controversy)

Kazakh

3 entries
  • даулы adj (arousing controversy)
  • жанжалды adj (arousing controversy)
  • таласты adj (arousing controversy)

Khmer

1 entries
  • ចម្រូងចម្រាស់ adj (arousing controversy)

Korean

1 entries
  • 논쟁의 여지가있는 adj (arousing controversy)

Latin

1 entries
  • contrōversus adj (arousing controversy)

Latvian

3 entries
  • kontroversiāls adj (arousing controversy)
  • pretrunīgs adj (arousing controversy)
  • strīdīgs adj (arousing controversy)

Māori

2 entries
  • kūraruraru adj (arousing controversy)
  • whakawehewehe adj (arousing controversy)

Norwegian Bokmål

3 entries
  • kontroversiell adj (arousing controversy)
  • omstridd adj (arousing controversy)
  • omstridt adj (arousing controversy)

Norwegian Nynorsk

2 entries
  • kontroversiell adj (arousing controversy)
  • omstridd adj (arousing controversy)

Polish

1 entries
  • kontrowersyjny adj (arousing controversy)

Portuguese

3 entries
  • controverso adj (arousing controversy)
  • polémico adj (arousing controversy)
  • polêmico adj (arousing controversy)

Romanian

4 entries
  • controversabil adj (arousing controversy)
  • controversat adj (arousing controversy)
  • discutabil adj (arousing controversy)
  • polemizat adj (arousing controversy)

Russian

3 entries
  • дискуссио́нный adj (arousing controversy)
  • сомни́тельный adj (arousing controversy)
  • спо́рный adj (arousing controversy)

Scottish Gaelic

2 entries
  • connsachail adj (arousing controversy)
  • connspaideach adj (arousing controversy)

Serbo-Croatian

1 entries
  • kontrovèrzan adj (arousing controversy)

Slovak

2 entries
  • kontraverzný adj (arousing controversy)
  • sporný adj (arousing controversy)

Spanish

4 entries
  • controversial adj (arousing controversy)
  • controvertible adj (arousing controversy)
  • controvertido adj (arousing controversy)
  • polémico adj (arousing controversy)

Swedish

2 entries
  • kontroversiell adj (arousing controversy)
  • omstridd adj (arousing controversy)

Turkish

3 entries
  • ihtilaflı adj (arousing controversy)
  • tartışmalı adj (arousing controversy)
  • çelişmeli adj (arousing controversy)

Ukrainian

2 entries
  • дискусі́йний adj (arousing controversy)
  • спі́рний adj (arousing controversy)

Welsh

1 entries
  • dadleuol adj (arousing controversy)

Sample sentences

18 total sentences available.

Tatoeba + Wiktionary

He was criticized for voicing such a controversial opinion.

Source: tatoeba (675440)

One store decided to pull the controversial CD from its shelves.

Source: tatoeba (694179)

Racial profiling is a controversial police tactic.

Source: tatoeba (715783)

The councilor tabled a number of controversial motions.

Source: tatoeba (812006)

Showing 4 of 18 available sentences.

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