Word.ws English Dictionary

teach the controversy

teach the controversy verb: to teach that life forms may have been created (almost) in their current form by a sentient being in a manner consistent with Christian dogmata, rather than as a result of ordinary evolution, and that the theory of evolution is controversial.

Verb

teach the controversy (third-person singular simple present teaches the controversy, present participle teaching the controversy, simple past and past participle taught the controversy)

  1. (US, euphemistic) To teach that life forms may have been created (almost) in their current form by a sentient being in a manner consistent with Christian dogmata, rather than as a result of ordinary evolution, and that the theory of evolution is controversial.
    • Recent developments in some of the states suggest that all public high school biology teachers may soon have to prepare themselves - whether they like it or not - to teach the controversy.2008, Patrick H. Clancy, Teaching the Controversy: A How-to Guide for Public (Government) School Biology, Xulon Press, →ISBN
    • Senator Rick Santorum is a Pennsylvanian in the same circles (author of the ' Santorum Language' that encourages schools to teach the controversy) ...2009, Lauri Lebo, The Devil in Dover: An Insider's Story of Dogma V. Darwin in Small-town America, The New Press, →ISBN, page 111

Forms of teach the controversy

third-person singular presentteaches the controversy
present participleteaching the controversy
past participletaught the controversy
pasttaught the controversy

Questions about teach the controversy

What does teach the controversy mean?
Teach the controversy means to teach that life forms may have been created (almost) in their current form by a sentient being in a manner consistent with Christian dogmata, rather than as a result of ordinary evolution, and that the theory of evolution is controversial.
What part of speech is teach the controversy?
Teach the controversy is a verb.
What is the past tense of teach the controversy?
The past tense of teach the controversy is taught the controversy.

Words near teach the controversy in the dictionary

  1. teach one's place
  2. teach out
  3. teach school
  4. teach someone a lesson
  5. teach someone who's the boss
  6. teach the controversy
  7. teach to the test
  8. teach who's boss
  9. teach who's the boss
  10. teach-in
  11. teach-ins

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: teach the controversy (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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