debatable
/dɪˈbeɪtəb(ə)l
/adjective
1Open to discussion or argument: it is debatable whether the country is coming out of recession...
- In reading the commentary it seems that it could be debatable whether the levies issued during that period were legal.
- The spiritual argument against the death penalty is equally as debatable as the one for it.
- As such, Kant's argument here is a compelling and, obviously, debatable one.
Synonyms
arguable, disputable, questionable, open to question, open to debate, subject to debate, controversial, contentious, doubtful, open to doubt, in doubt, dubious, uncertain, unsure, unclear, vague, borderline, inconclusive, moot, unsettled, unresolved, unconfirmed, undetermined, undecided, unknown, up in the air, not yet established;
problematical, puzzling, perplexing, riddling;
a controversial subject, a live issue, a moot point, a matter of opinion
informal iffy, on the back burner, on ice
rare controvertible, unestablished
1.1 historical (Of land) on the border between two countries and claimed by each.That wide and steep slope of debatable land between the water and the houses.
Derivatives
debatably
- ‘Well-endowed’ bookshops may debatably be, but they're no substitute for libraries which give free access to a wide range of books.
- Also to be discussed will be lifting the freeze on university tuition and nationalizing Quebec's water resources, debatably more important issues than teenage fashion.
- This passage is effective, if only because it employs a debatably relevant, historical analogy.