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PlainSpell

debate

/dɪˈbeɪt/verb, noun

debate is spelled D-E-B-A-T-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 44 times per million words in written English, the 2,290th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, debate means “To participate in a debate; to dispute, argue, especially in a public arena” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in debate?

Letters6: D-E-B-A-T-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing44 times per million words; the 2,290th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is debate?

Debate appears 44 times per million words in written English, the 2,290th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce debate?

  • UK /dɪˈbeɪt/
  • US /dɪˈbeɪt/
  • US /di-/

Debate has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-debate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with debate?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as debate from its last stressed vowel (/eɪt/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of debate

  • debates present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • debating participle, present
  • debated participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does debate mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To participate in a debate; to dispute, argue, especially in a public arena.

    "Debate me, coward!" snarled the completely normal intellectual.

  2. 2

    obsoleteTo fight.

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo engage in combat for; to strive for.

  4. 4

    To consider (to oneself), to think over, to attempt to decide

    He was debating where he'd spend his holiday.

noun

  1. 1

    An argument, or discussion, usually in an ordered or formal setting, often with more than two people, generally ending with a vote or other decision.

    After a four-hour debate, the committee voted to table the motion.

  2. 2

    An informal and spirited but generally civil discussion of opposing views.

    The debate over the age of the universe is thousands of years old.

  3. 3

    Discussion of opposing views.

    There has been considerable debate concerning exactly how to format these articles.

  4. 4

    A type of literary composition, taking the form of a discussion or disputation, commonly found in the vernacular medieval poetry of many European countries, as well as in medieval Latin.

  5. 5

    obsoleteStrife, discord.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate debate?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of debate: Deb..

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Debate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdébattre (participate in a debate), débat (argument, or discussion, usually in an ordered…), discussion (discussion of opposing views)
Germandebattieren (participate in a debate), Debatte (argument, or discussion, usually in an ordered…), Streitgespräch (discussion of opposing views), Diskussion (informal and spirited but generally civil…)
Portuguesedebater (participate in a debate), debate (argument, or discussion, usually in an ordered…), discussão (discussion of opposing views)
Spanishdebatir (participate in a debate), debate (argument, or discussion, usually in an ordered…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does debate come from?

From Middle English debaten, from Old French debatre (“to fight, contend, debate, also literally to beat down”), from Romanic desbattere, from Latin dis- (“apart, in different directions”) + battuō (“to beat, to fence”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after debate