1
as in contentious
relating to or causing the expression of opposing opinions
tried to avoid controversial topics over the holiday dinner table
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2
as in aggressive
given to arguing
controversial by temperament, she's the sort of political attack dog who kills all hope of bipartisanship
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Examples of controversial in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The controversial comments were met with gasps and grunts from the audience and much commentary on social media.
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Amber Corrine, VIBE.com, 9 Oct. 2024
In Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola’s polarizing box office flop, a futuristic development is the wild utopic imagining of Adam Driver’s protagonist Cesar Catilina, a controversial urbanist who’s invented a newfangled building material called Megalon.
—Gary Baum, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Oct. 2024
The controversial changes include allowing third-party app stores to be available on Google Play for the next three years, according to an injunction issued Thursday.
—Michael Kan, PCMAG, 7 Oct. 2024
In this controversial 2024 election year, she’s observed that many brands have pulled away from anything that can be perceived as political support for either party.
—Michelle Greenwald, Forbes, 27 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for controversial 
Amber Corrine, VIBE.com, 9 Oct. 2024
In Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola’s polarizing box office flop, a futuristic development is the wild utopic imagining of Adam Driver’s protagonist Cesar Catilina, a controversial urbanist who’s invented a newfangled building material called Megalon.
—Gary Baum, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Oct. 2024
The controversial changes include allowing third-party app stores to be available on Google Play for the next three years, according to an injunction issued Thursday.
—Michael Kan, PCMAG, 7 Oct. 2024
In this controversial 2024 election year, she’s observed that many brands have pulled away from anything that can be perceived as political support for either party.
—Michelle Greenwald, Forbes, 27 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for controversial
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'controversial.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Controversial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/controversial. Accessed 14 Oct. 2024.
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