Definition of "dialectic" [di•a•lec•tic]

• The art or practice of arriving at the truth by the exchange of logical arguments. (noun)
• The process especially associated with Hegel of arriving at the truth by stating a thesis, developing a contradictory antithesis, and combining and resolving them into a coherent synthesis. (noun)
• Hegel's critical method for the investigation of this process. (noun)
• The Marxian process of change through the conflict of opposing forces, whereby a given contradiction is characterized by a primary and a secondary aspect, the secondary succumbing to the primary, which is then transformed into an aspect of a new contradiction. Often used in the plural with a singular or plural verb. (noun)
• The Marxian critique of this process. (noun)

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.

• "The ancient Greeks used the term dialectic to refer to various methods of reasoning and discussion in order to discover the truth."
• "The caricature of the dialectic is a boiling-down of every historical or philosophical pattern to two concepts in conflict with each other — depending on the caricature, either one concept inevitably prevails, or the two are mashed up into a crude "synthesis.""
• "The Marxist-Leninists call it dialectic materialism. say one thig to mask the fact that you mean the opposite."