devil's advocate
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Someone who argues against an idea to test its validity
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
người phản biện ý tưởng để kiểm tra tính hợp lệ
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a person arguing on the devil's side
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He played devil's advocate to convince us of the plan's flaws
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “devil's advocate” mean?
Someone who argues against an idea to test its validity Literally: a person arguing on the devil's side
Is “devil's advocate” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.