Rate this phrase:3.0 / 1 vote

devil's advocate

A canon lawyer appointed by the Church to argue against the canonization of the proposed candidate.

Etymology:

  • From devil's advocate, a calque of Latin advocātus diabolī.
27 Views
Collection   Edit    

Submitted on September 01, 2009

Additional definitions for 'devil's advocate':

devil's advocateOne who debates from a view which they may not actually hold, usually to determine its validity, or simply for the sake of argument.
See them all »

Translation

Find a translation for the devil's advocate phrase in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to devil's advocate

better the devil you knowdevil beating his wifeBetween the Devil and the Deep Blue Seadevil's shouldersidle hands are a devil's toolsidle hands are the Devil's toolslucky devildevil's luckfolk devilspeak of the devilidle hands are the Devil's playthingsdevil's shouldersbetter the devil you know than the one …devil lies in the details

How to pronounce this phrase?

Discuss this devil's advocate phrase with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this devil's advocate definition to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "devil's advocate." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Nov. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/devils-advocate_3232>.

    Powered by CITE.ME Cite.Me

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest human-edited phrases collection on the web!

    Quiz

    Are you a phrases master?

    »
    Ollie Ollie ___________ free.
    A Oxen
    B Otts and
    C Mocks and
    D Moxy

    Browse Phrases.com

    #ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ