Definition of "debate" []

• To consider something; deliberate. (verb-intransitive)
• To engage in argument by discussing opposing points. (verb-intransitive)
• To engage in a formal discussion or argument. See Synonyms at discuss. (verb-intransitive)
• Obsolete To fight or quarrel. (verb-intransitive)
• To deliberate on; consider. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "I think that there's room for debate about what is or isn't appropriate for public calling-out, but I think that the word *debate* there is key - not just running with a default assumption of anything possibly hurtful = bad = verboten."
• "One form might claim that the idea of a significant debate is generated by unsupported or unsupportable philosophical theses about the relationship of the experiencing and minded subject to their world, and that once these theses are exorcised the ˜debate™ will gradually wither away."
• "In either case, dressing the whole thing up in "debate" is futile."