Vocabulary
Contentious
English and Urdu gloss, synonyms and antonyms, and example usage from our editorial sentence cache where available.
English meaning
causing or likely to cause an argument; controversial.
Urdu meaning
متنازعہ، جھگڑالو
Example sentences (from Dawn)
Sentences are selected from stored editorial text where your search word appears. If none appear yet, run the admin sentence generator for fuller coverage.
- The consensus-building process should not be hurried; an important but contentious question like the creation of new provinces should be debated and scrutinised on the basis of facts and figures, both inside parliament and outside.
- The debate fuelled by Islamabad`s chronic fiscal stress is sustained by the belief that reducing revenue transfers to the provinces would provide an easy, if contentious, fix to the federal government`s fiscal woes.
- Moreover, the use of contentious laws like the Anti-Terrorism (Balochistan Amendment) Act, 2025, which permits 90-day detentions without charge, has deepened alienation in the province.
- The long and arduous process to address the trust deficit between the contending parties will have to start with equally important but less contentious issues.
- Moreover, a peace award should be in recognition of the establishment of peace, which happens when contentious issues are resolved between warring parties.
Synonyms
controversial, disputable, debatable, disputed, contended, open to question/debate
Curator example
“a contentious issue”
More vocabulary to explore
About this vocabulary section.
These entries support close reading of Dawn editorials and opinion pieces: short definitions,
Urdu equivalents where we have them, word relations, and—when generated—real lines from the editorial archive
so you can see tone and usage.
Common questions
- Do I need to sign up to use this vocabulary page?
- No. Word pages are open to everyone. You can read meanings in English and Urdu, synonyms and antonyms, and example sentences without creating an account.
- Where do the example sentences come from?
- When available, example sentences are drawn from cached matches in our Dawn editorial corpus so you can see how a word is used in real newsroom-style prose.
- How is this different from a dictionary?
- This section is curated for students preparing for competitive exams and editorial reading. Entries are compact, often include Urdu glosses, and are paired with in-context lines from editorials when we have them.
