Disputation

Disputation - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

DISPUTATION, n. [L.]

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.

dis-pu-ta'-shun: In Ac 15:2, the Revised Version (British and American) reads "questioning" for the King James Version "disputation" (Greek suzetesis). In Ro 14:1, the King James Version "doubtful disputations" becomes in the Revised Version (British and American) "decision of scruples" (Greek diakriseis dialogismon, literally, "discussions of doubts"). The Greek in neither case implies what the word "dispute" has come to mean in modern English, but rather "to discuss" or "argue."