Controversy

How to spell controversy

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce controversy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does controversy mean?

1. nounA prolonged public disagreement or heated discussion about a matter on which strong opposing views are held.

Controversy in a sentence

• The new tax policy sparked a fierce controversy among voters.

• The referee's decision caused a lasting controversy between the two clubs.

Where does controversy come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin controversia, meaning a dispute or quarrel, which was built from controversus, literally 'turned against' or 'turned in the opposite direction'. That adjective joined contra, meaning 'against', with versus, the past participle of vertere, 'to turn', so the underlying image is of two parties turned to face each other in opposition. English borrowed it through Old French in the late 1300s, keeping the sense of a prolonged public disagreement. The same vertere root turns up in a whole family of familiar English words such as 'reverse', 'convert', and 'version', which is a useful clue that the middle of the word is spelled 'vers' and not 'ver' or 'verce'. Knowing that contra became 'contro' here also explains the otherwise puzzling 'o' before the 'v'.

How the word is built

• contro- (variant of contra-: against)
• vers (from vertere: to turn)
• -y (noun suffix)