Controversial
Controversial adjective - Marked by or capable of arousing controversy.
Usage example: a controversial decision on affirmative action
Debatable is a synonym for controversial in opinion topic. In some cases you can use "Debatable" instead an adjective "Controversial", when it comes to topics like open, questionable, doubtful, disputed. popular alternative
Debatable
Debatable adjective - Open to question or dispute.
Usage example: it's always debatable which college football team is really number one, since there's more than one ranking system
Controversial is a synonym for debatable in doubtful topic. You can use "Controversial" instead an adjective "Debatable", if it concerns topics such as opinion, open, questionable, problematic. popular alternative
Mutual synonyms
Related pairs
- open and controversial
- open and debatable
- dubious and controversial
- dubious and debatable
- questionable and controversial
- questionable and debatable
- unsettled and controversial
- unsettled and debatable
- doubtful and controversial
- doubtful and debatable
- undecided and controversial
- undecided and debatable
- uncertain and controversial
- uncertain and debatable
Both words in one sentence
- Hypocrite: A debatable and controversial example occurs during chapter 18 when Shaun calls Davis out for abandoning TK just so that he could have Kari all for himself.
Source: Fan Fic / Zero 2 A Revision -
The movement has been pretty controversial among fans, and it's debatable how much success they've had, but they're making a lot of money off it so they're unlikely to stop any time soon.
Source: Reconstruction -
Whether or not the author of the work purposely made it controversial in order to invoke this phenomenon is debatable.
Source: No Such Thing as Bad Publicity
Cite this Source
Debatable and Controversial. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/controversial/debatable
Controversial & Debatable. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/controversial/debatable>.
Debatable or Controversial. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/controversial/debatable.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "controversial" and "debatable" have occurred on timeline