How to spell debate

hear itde·bate/dɪ'beɪt/nounRules and real life

What it means: A formal discussion or argument about a topic.

In a sentence: The students had a friendly debate about their favorite animals.

The part people get wrong

Often misspelled as debat or debait.

Same family: debates, debated, debating, debater, debateable. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Debate” comes from Old French “debatre,” meaning “to fight or beat down,” so the word originally suggested a kind of verbal battle. Over time, its meaning softened into the idea of a structured discussion where different sides present arguments.

Patterns it uses: Drop the e before a suffix?

Try spelling it

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