Synonyms of debating

debating

verb

present participle of debate

1

as in pondering

to give serious and careful thought to

still debating what to do

Synonyms & Similar Words

• pondering
• contemplating
• considering
• studying
• questioning
• entertaining
• weighing
• exploring
• reviewing
• eyeing
• analyzing
• deliberating
• ruminating
• cogitating
• thinking (about or over)
• looking at
• meditating
• revolving
• mulling (over)
• wrestling (with)
• chewing on
• turning
• poring (over)
• digesting
• chewing over
• perpending
• reasoning
• kicking around
• reminiscing
• reflecting (on or upon)
• beating one's brains out (about)
• believing
• concluding
• opining
• cudgeling one's brains (about)
• musing (upon)
• speculating (about)
• dwelling (on or upon)
• second-guessing
• absorbing
• fixating (on or upon)
• conceiving
• obsessing (about or over)
• brooding (about or over)
• fretting (about or over)
• assimilating
• drinking (in)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• ignoring
• disregarding
• overlooking
• dismissing
• rejecting
• slighting
• pooh-poohing

2

as in discussing

to talk about (an issue) usually from various points of view and for the purpose of arriving at a decision or opinion

we debated the advantages versus the disadvantages of the proposed waterfront development

Synonyms & Similar Words

• discussing
• arguing
• reviewing
• disputing
• canvassing
• agitating
• talking over
• bandying
• considering
• raising
• batting (around or back and forth)
• mooting
• speaking (about)
• talking (about)
• hashing (over or out)
• introducing
• weighing
• deliberating
• propounding
• stirring up
• broaching
• forging
• wrestling (with)
• talking out
• hammering out
• thrashing (out)
• chewing over

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of debating

Minutes after Peña's announcement, the lower house voted 78-0 to impeach him; on Thursday evening, the Senate was debating whether to remove him from office. — Arkansas Online, 6 Nov. 2026

The industry has been working to answer that question by comparing benchmarks, debating reasoning performance and seeing each new model outperform the last. — Kumar Chivukula, Forbes.com, 6 Nov. 2026

The next compliance deadline is in 2029 and for months now, city leaders have been debating the best path forward to ensure people who work in Park Ridge can live in Park Ridge. — Jesse Wright, Chicago Tribune, 6 Nov. 2026

Shikishima and his allies try their best to combat the extraterrestrial threat while debating whether Godzilla is worth the risk of resurrection, acknowledging that sometimes the only way to beat one kaiju is with another. — Zachary Lee, IndieWire, 6 Nov. 2026

The News House Democrats are debating the future of the chamber’s select panel on US-China competition. — Nicholas Wu, semafor.com, 6 Nov. 2026

Details from my résumé had apparently been scraped from the internet, and commenters were debating my intentions. — Shayla Love, New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2026

Music, and more The panelists also discussed South Korea’s rise to become an entertainment powerhouse, debating which parts of the country’s playbook could be applicable to Southeast Asia. — Angelica Ang, Fortune, 6 Nov. 2026

Tarek El Moussa’s gift to his daughter has parents debating whether teens should earn their first car. — Melissa Willets, Parents, 4 Nov. 2026