Also 8 contra-. [f. CONTROVERT + -IST.] One who practises or is engaged in controversy; a CONTROVERSIALIST.
1655. S. W., Schism Disarmd, 212. He was borne a Controvertist.
1667. Decay Chr. Piety, x. § 1. 312. Our controvertists fall from arguments to reproaches.
1759. Johnson, Rasselas, xxii. Their disputations … often continued till neither controvertist remembered upon what question they began.
1852. J. H. Newman, Scope Univ. Educ., 262. To crush and pound to dust the audacious controvertist.
1884. Jrnl. Educ., 1 Sept., 341. One hint which might advantageously be acted upon by all controvertists.
