contentiouscon‧ten‧tious /kənˈtenʃəs/ ●○○ adjective 
Animal welfare did not become a contentious issue until the late 1970s.2someone who is contentious often argues with people SYN argumentative—contentiously adverb
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Abortion has always been a contentious subject.
- Logging on public lands is a contentious issue.
- the contentious issue of arms sales to non-democratic countries
- Even a decade ago, that would have been a contentious assertion.
- He was intimately involved with many of the most contentious issues in the three years of design and construction.
- In liquor he became sullen and contentious.
- It seems reasonable to suppose that they should be, if the contentious area of imaginative literature is ruled out.
- One particularly contentious area in the field of health and safety is the valuation of human life itself.
- With so much hype surrounding the Internet and its potential for commercial opportunities, market research has been a contentious issue.
THESAURUS
causing a lot of disagreement and angry argument, especially in the newspapers, on television etc: · Abortion is a controversial subject.· The film was highly controversial at the time.
formal likely to cause a lot of disagreement and argument: · the contentious issue of immigration· These claims are highly contentious.
used when you think that something is not certain and that people have different opinions about it, especially in the phrase it is debatable/arguable whether: · It is debatable whether this book is as good as her previous novel.· It is arguable whether these measures will reduce the overall cost.· Does the treatment work? I think that’s debatable.
used when you think that something is not certain and that people have different opinions about it – a rather formal phrase: · Whether this proposal will really reduce crime is a moot point.
Longman Language Activatorcausing disagreement something that is controversial causes a lot of disagreement and angry argument, especially in the newspaper, on television etc: · A recent government paper on education contains some controversial new ideas.· Rossellini's controversial film, "The Miracle"· The decision to use the bomb remains the most controversial question of the Second World War.
: contentious issue/subject/problem etc one that is likely to cause a lot of disagreement and argument: · Abortion has always been a contentious subject.· the contentious issue of arms sales to non-democratic countries
a subject that people strongly disagree about for a long time and often argue about: · The new tax on property is likely to become a serious bone of contention.bone of contention between: · The way we manage money has been the only real bone of contention between us.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY Animal welfare did not become a contentious issue until the late 1970s.COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB
1causing a lot of argument and disagreement between people SYN controversialcontentious issue/area/subject etc Animal welfare did not become a contentious issue until the late 1970s.· Sometimes his segmentation is highly contentious.· Magona's reexamination of a highly contentious political event leaves no easy answers.· The interpretation of the private language argument is highly contentious.· But the mechanism of direct action is unknown and the subject remains highly contentious.· A public inquiry is usually employed, however, only if the appeal involves a very large or highly contentious development.· Setting the fees for each pollutant would be highly contentious and beset by political wrangling.· The tutor-librarian model, and title, was for some years highly contentious in the library profession as well as among many teachers.· As a role model, she is a highly contentious one.
· It could contribute to encouraging Gingrich to be a less contentious figure.
· Changing supplementary and housing benefit would be more contentious than reforming occupational pensions.· Or would these moves have made the parish more contentious, poisoned the nurturing atmosphere, and proved ultimately self-defeating?· How significant are the changes brought about by the introduction of this concept is more contentious.· However, which musicians deserve the, ah, extra strokes is another, much more contentious, matter.· The particular reasons are more contentious.· However, the third assumption is more contentious.· The exclusion of school-leavers from the unemployment figures is a more contentious issue.· Smog and acid rain, water pollution and sewage disposal, dams and river-flows will become ever more contentious issues.
· The most contentious issue in the early days of the second session was the collegiality of bishops.· One of the earliest theories has also been one of the most contentious.· Your identifying the most contentious point at issue was commendable.· He was intimately involved with many of the most contentious issues in the three years of design and construction.· The most contentious planning issue was perhaps the question of retailing.· The last bar on my pub crawl is the most contentious.· The third approach is most contentious.· Standards are one of the most contentious issues in education.
NOUN· It seems reasonable to suppose that they should be, if the contentious area of imaginative literature is ruled out.· One contentious area where ethical controversies abound concerns genetic screening and the detection of high risk groups.· One particularly contentious area in the field of health and safety is the valuation of human life itself.
· Outside the state apparatuses public opinion was becoming increasingly polarized over the contentious issue of greater state powers.· Axworthy pointed to other contentious issues between the two neighbors that require resolution.· Smog and acid rain, water pollution and sewage disposal, dams and river-flows will become ever more contentious issues.· Standards are one of the most contentious issues in education.· The ultimate determinants of real investment, whether by foreign or domestic firms, remain a contentious issue in economic theory.· Another contentious issue is whether the revisions themselves are legal since they were passed without notification to the opposition.· Finally, there is the contentious issue of time-expired projects.· With so much hype surrounding the Internet and its potential for commercial opportunities, market research has been a contentious issue.
· Inflation had become a particularly serious and contentious subject.· Jessica was yet another contentious subject my sister and I best avoid, I remember suddenly.
Animal welfare did not become a contentious issue until the late 1970s.2someone who is contentious often argues with people SYN argumentative—contentiously adverb