polemic (2009-05-25)

Part of Speech: noun

Pronunciation: [pê-'lem-ik]

Definition: (1) The art of debate and argumentation; (2) a passionate defense or refutation of an argument.

Usage: This word can entail a negative connotation, especially around political situations, "Little truth emerged from the polemics of the two opposing candidates." The meaning is not necessarily negative, however. A polemic for environmental preservation could be simply a passionate argument. Household uses also emerge, particularly, if you have contact with a modern teenager: "Spare me the polemic on woman's lib and clean up your room—at least pick up the clothes that are growing to the floor!"

Suggested Usage: Today's word may be used as an adjective in the first sense of the noun, while "polemical" is usually preferred for the second sense. The general activity is usually expressed in the plural, "polemics," and a person who engages in polemics is a polemicist. "Polemics" also refers specifically to that branch of theology that specializes in the refutation of errors of interpretation that creep into doctrine.

Etymology: Today's word started out as Greek polemikos "hostile," the adjective from polemos "war, battle." The root of the Greek word originally meant "beat, hit, thrust." The same root turns up in Old English "anfealt," which today is "anvil," something you beat on. Old English "felt" is also a relative that may have been borrowed into Medieval Latin as the root in filtrum "felt, filter," which returned to English as "filter." In Latin the original root became pellere "to push, drive, hit," whose past participle is pulsus "beat" from which we derive "pulse."