devil's advocate

English

WOTD – 12 December 2011

Etymology

From devil's advocate, a calque of Latin advocātus diabolī (“the devil’s advocate”).

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Noun

devil's advocate (plural devil's advocates)

(idiomatic) One who debates from a viewpoint which he or she may not actually hold, usually to determine its validity or simply for the sake of argument.
(Roman Catholic Church) A canon lawyer appointed by the Church to argue against the canonization of the proposed candidate.

Translations

debater

Arabic: محامي الشيطان‎ m
Catalan: advocat del diable m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 恶魔代言人
Czech: ďáblův advokát m
Danish: djævelens advokat c
Dutch: advocaat van de duivel
Finnish: paholaisen asianajaja
French: avocat du diable (fr) m
German: des Teufels Advokat m, Advocatus Diaboli (de)

Greek: συνήγορος του διαβόλου m or f (synígoros tou diavólou)
Italian: avvocato del diavolo m
Japanese: 悪魔の代弁者 (akuma no daibensha), あまのじゃく (amanojaku)
Norwegian: djevelens advokat m
Polish: adwokat diabła (pl) m
Portuguese: advogado do diabo (pt) m
Romanian: avocatul diavolului
Russian: адвока́т дья́вола (ru) m (advokát dʹjávola)
Spanish: abogado del diablo m
Swedish: djävulens advokat c

canon lawyer

Catalan: advocat del diable m
Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Czech: ďáblův advokát m
Danish: djævelens advokat c
Finnish: paholaisen asianajaja
German: des Teufels Advokat m, Advocatus Diaboli (de)
Greek: συνήγορος του διαβόλου m or f (synígoros tou diavólou)
Italian: avvocato del diavolo m

Japanese: 列聖調査審問検事 (ressei chōsa shinmon kenji)
Latin: advocatus diaboli
Norwegian: djevelens advokat m
Polish: adwokat diabła (pl) m
Portuguese: advogado do diabo (pt) m
Romanian: avocatul diavolului m
Russian: адвока́т дья́вола (ru) m (advokát dʹjávola)
Spanish: abogado del diablo m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: ^{(please verify)} avocat du diable (fr)
Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} פרקליט השטן‎
Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} velnio advokatas

Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} vražji odvjetnik
Ukrainian: ^{(please verify)} адвокат диявола (advokat dyjavola)

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