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A.Word.A.Day--polemic polemic (puh-LEM-ik, poh-) noun 1. A controversial argument. 2. A person who engages in arguments or controversy; a controversialist. adjective, also polemical Of or pertaining to a controversy or argument. [From Greek polemikós, from pólemos (war). A related word is polemology (the science and study of human conflict and war).] "However, there is unfortunately a degree of `the sky is falling' to this book. This tractate is clearly a polemic and a call for action." A. Mark Clarfield; Mixing Politics and Public Health; The Jerusalem Post (Israel); May 8, 2001. "In 1929, Virginia Woolf delivered a passionate polemic about the odds facing a woman born with a great gift for writing." Edna O'Brien; Stone of the Heart; The New Yorker; Mar 24, 2003. This week's theme: words with origins in war. X-Bonus You are never too old to be what you might have been. -George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), novelist (1819-1880)

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