Word of the Day

: October 8, 2009

polemic

noun puh-LEM-ik

What It Means

1 a : an aggressive attack on or refutation of the opinions or principles of another

b : the art or practice of disputation

2 : disputant

polemic in Context

"He isn't striving for objectivity; this book is part history, part polemic." (Carmela Ciuraru, Christian Science Monitor, June 16, 2009)

Did You Know?

When "polemic" was borrowed into English from French "polemique" in the mid-17th century, it referred (as it still can) to a type of hostile attack on someone's ideas. The word traces back to Greek "polemikos," which means "warlike" or "hostile" and in turn comes from the Greek noun "polemos," meaning "war." Other, considerably less common descendants of "polemos" in English include "polemarch" ("a chieftain or military commander in ancient Greece"), "polemoscope" (a kind of binoculars with an oblique mirror), and "polemology" ("the study of war").