eristic means provoking strife, controversy or discord. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 86 out of 100.
Why “eristic” is a great word
Pertaining to argument aimed at victory, not at truth, and thus tending to provoke discord. From Ancient Greek eristikós ('eager for strife'), from éris ('strife, discord'), first attested in English in the 1630s. Unlike 'dialectic,' which seeks mutual understanding through reasoned exchange, or 'polemical,' which argues aggressively for a substantive belief, the eristic spirit fights only for the sake of the fight itself. It is the lawyer who twists a fact until it breaks, the dinner guest who counters every anecdote with a contradictory one, the online troll meticulously derailing a thread into personal spite—a performance of intellect that proves one can win the room while forfeiting the world.
Etymology
Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐριστικός (eristikós, “eager for strife”). See also Eris.
adj
- Provoking strife, controversy or discord.“c. 1810-1834? Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Notes on Waterland
a specimen of admirable special pleading in the court of eristic logic”
noun
- One who makes specious arguments; one who is disputatious.
- A type of dialogue or argument where the participants do not have any reasonable goal. The aim is to argue for the sake of conflict, and often to see who can yell the loudest.“Poets may be incurious of the subtleties of philological eristic, but they are wont to see into the heart of things.”