Upper-Intermediate 📚 Vocabulary · #262 of 1319

controversial (adj.)

causing disagreement

Examples

  • A controversial law.

Key rules

  • Controversial means causing disagreement
  • A controversial decision, a controversial law
  • Controversy is the noun

Common mistakes

  • It is a controversy law → It is a controversial law
  • The decision was controversy → The decision was controversial

Use cases

  • Politics
  • Describing decisions
  • Describing debates
💡 Tip: Controversial is about disagreement, not about wrongness.
Practise this topic in the appPractise Upper-Intermediate quiz
← constitute (v.)criterion (n.) →

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ambiguous (adj.)

having more than one possible meaning

coherent (adj.)

logical and well organised

compelling (adj.)

very convincing or interesting

contemporary (adj.)

belonging to the present time

crucial (adj.)

extremely important

diminish (v.)

to become or make smaller