Uncommon
Devil's advocate
Figure of speech and former official position within the Catholic Church
Devil's advocate
The advocatus diaboli (Latin for Devil's advocate) is the common name for the official position within the Catholic Church of the Promoter of the Faith. It is defined as one who "argued against the canonization (sainthood) of a candidate to uncover any character flaws or misrepresentation of the evidence favoring canonization". It was reformed in 1984. In common parlance, the phrase "playing devil's advocate" describes a situation where someone, given a certain point of view, takes a position they do not necessarily agree with (or simply an alternative position from the accepted norm), for the sake of debate or to explore the thought further using valid reasoning that both disagrees with the subject at hand and proves their own point valid. Despite being medieval in origin, this idiomatic expression is one of the most popular present-day English idioms used to express the concept of arguing against something without actually being committed to the contrary view. Playing devil's advocate...
Open boosters, collect cards and trade them. Free to play.
Play for free