Word.ws English Dictionary

controverse

/ˈkɒntɹəvɜː(ɹ)s/

controverse noun: controversy.

Noun

controverse (plural controverses)

  1. (obsolete) Controversy.
    • So fitly now here commeth next in place,
      After the proofe of prowesse ended well,
      The controverse of beauties soveraine grace […]1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

Verb

IPA/kɒntɹəˈvɜː(ɹ)s/

controverse (third-person singular simple present controverses, present participle controversing, simple past and past participle controversed)

  1. (obsolete) to controvert

Forms of controverse

Noun
pluralcontroverses
Verb
third-person singular presentcontroverses
present participlecontroversing
past participlecontroversed
pastcontroversed

Origin of controverse

Borrowed from Middle French controverse.

Questions about controverse

What does controverse mean?
Controverse means controversy.
What part of speech is controverse?
Controverse can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce controverse?
Controverse is pronounced /ˈkɒntɹəvɜː(ɹ)s/.
What is the plural of controverse?
The plural of controverse is controverses.

Words near controverse in the dictionary

  1. controulment
  2. controulments
  3. controuls
  4. controversal
  5. controversary
  6. controverse
  7. controverser
  8. controversers
  9. controverses
  10. controversial
  11. controversialism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: controverse (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-controverse (noun).wav.

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