polemic

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po·lem·ic / pəˈlemik/ • n. a strong verbal or written attack on someone or something: his polemic against the cultural relativism of the sixties | a writer of feminist polemic. ∎  (usu. polemics) the art or practice of engaging in controversial debate or dispute: the history of science has become embroiled in religious polemics.• adj. another term for polemical.DERIVATIVES: po·lem·i·cist / pəˈleməsist/ n.po·lem·i·cize / pəˈleməˌsīz/ v.ORIGIN: mid 17th cent.: via medieval Latin from Greek polemikos, from polemos ‘war.’