debatable

adjective de·bat·able \ di-ˈbā-tə-bəl , dē- \

|Updated on: 17 Jun 2018

Examples: debatable in a Sentence

Definition of debatable

1 : claimed by more than one country

debatable border territory

2 a : open to dispute : questionable

the debatable wisdom of his advice

b : open to debate

3 : capable of being debated

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debatably

play \-blē\ adverb

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Examples of debatable in a Sentence

it's always debatable which college football team is really number one, since there's more than one ranking system
the debatable wisdom of going back for another helping from the buffet

Recent Examples of debatable from the Web

Image Whether brides and grooms are getting the bang for their buck that Dreams on a Dime and other cost-aware wedding industry players promise is debatable.

— New York Times, "A Dream Wedding on a Budget," 8 June 2018
The president’s aggressive—and factually debatable—attacks have triggered concern about the fragility of our democracy and the potential for the powers of the state to be used to quash private companies.

— zachary karabell, WIRED, "Trump’s Attack on Amazon Actually Has Its Precedents," 15 Apr. 2018
Some of these are debatable, especially on immigration.

— jeet heer, New Republic, "The Unacceptable Cost of “Taming” Trump," 8 Feb. 2018
The effectiveness of mineral sunscreens is debatable.

— fiza pirani, ajc, "Study finds 67 percent of sunscreens don’t actually work — find one that does," 22 May 2018
The theologian, who hailed from what is now Algeria, had an immense influence on Western Christianity, particularly Catholicism—though whether or not this dictum has had a direct impact on the dress codes of religious schools is debatable.

— celia ellenberg, Vogue, "Kim Kardashian West Was Once a Catholic School Student Who Couldn't Wear Makeup—Except on the Weekends," 17 May 2018
What is debatable and more than a little sketchy is how the proposed sale is being handled.

— paul jenkins, Anchorage Daily News, "The ML&P sale could be great for Anchorage, but the process should be more open," 3 Mar. 2018
The results of all of these, though, have been debatable.

— chris morris, Fortune, "Hangover Pill Shows Promise in Lab Tests," 11 May 2018
Today the federal government is more active than ever in this regard, but whether its efforts are truly helping is debatable.

— jason l. riley, WSJ, "Why Ben Carson Is Raising Rents," 8 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'debatable.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.