The Devil's Advocate
Preserved but no longer current.
A carping or adverse critic. From the Advocatus diaboli, the person appointed to contest the claims of a candidate for canonization before a papal court. He advances all he can against the candidate, and is opposed by the Advocatus dei (God's Advocate), who says all he can in support of the proposal.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “The Devil's Advocate” mean?
A carping or adverse critic. From the Advocatus diaboli, the person appointed to contest the claims of a candidate for canonization before a papal court. He advances all he can against the candidate, and is opposed by the Advocatus dei (God's Advocate), who says all he can in support of the proposal.
Is “The Devil's Advocate” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.