DISPUTATION, noun [Latin] 1. The act of disputing; a reasoning or argumentation in opposition to something, or on opposite sides; controversy in words; verbal contest, respecting the truth of some fact, opinion, proposition or argument. 2. An exercise in colleges, in which parties reason in opposition to each other, on some question proposed.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI