Controversies

How to spell controversies

13 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce controversies

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does controversies mean?

1. nounPublic disagreements or disputes, especially prolonged ones over matters that prompt strong opposing opinions.

Controversies in a sentence

• The new policy sparked several controversies within the department.

• His biography devotes whole chapters to the financial controversies of his career.

Where does controversies come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin controversia, meaning a dispute or a turning of opinion against another. That noun was built from controversus, literally 'turned against' or 'turned in opposition', which joins contra, meaning 'against', with versus, the past participle of vertere, 'to turn'. The same vertere root quietly powers a whole family of English words, including 'reverse', 'convert', and 'version', all of which carry the idea of turning. English took controversy in through Old French and Latin during the late 1300s, originally in religious and legal disputes. The plural simply follows the regular English rule of changing a final 'y' after a consonant to 'ies', which is exactly the spot where writers hesitate.

How the word is built

• contra- (against)
• vers (turn)
• -y (noun)
• -ies (plural)