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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.
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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.
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Nearby phrases

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

devil take the hindmostidle hands are the Devil's toolsdevil beating his wifegive the devil his dueidle hands are the Devil's workshopidle hands are a devil's toolsdevil's shouldersdevil's shouldersidle hands are the devil's toolsdevil's luckdevil lies in the detailslucky devila devil-may-care attitudebetter the devil you know

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