polemic

Founding-era definition · Webster's 1828 American Dictionary

POLEM'IC POLEM'ICAL, adjective [Gr. war.] 1. Controversial; disputative; intended to maintain an opinion or system in opposition to others; as a polemic treatise, discourse, essay or book; polemic divinity. 2. Engaged in supporting an opinion or system by controversy; as a polemic writer. POLEM'IC, noun A disputant; a controvertist; one who writes in support of an opinion or system in opposition to another.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI

More founding-era words: liberty · virtue · republic · justice · providence · commerce · militia · arms · prudence · establishment · religion · usurpation · tyranny · citizen · unalienable · sovereign