Resources
Debate Glossary
Core terminology used across competitive debate formats.
- Case
- The organized set of arguments presented by a debater or team.
- Claim
- The main statement or position an argument asks the audience or judge to accept.
- Clash
- Direct engagement between opposing arguments.
- Constructive Speech
- An early speech in which a debater presents major arguments and establishes the case.
- Cross-Examination
- A period during which one debater asks another debater questions.
- Evidence
- Information from a credible source used to support a claim.
- Extension
- The process of carrying an argument forward by explaining and developing it in a later speech.
- Flow
- A structured system of note-taking used to track arguments throughout a debate.
- Framework
- The standard or method a judge should use to evaluate the debate.
- Impact
- The consequence or significance of an argument.
- Motion
- The proposition debated in formats such as World Schools Debate.
- Rebuttal
- A response to an opposing argument.
- Refutation
- The process of showing why an opposing argument is incorrect, unsupported, less important, or otherwise insufficient.
- Resolution
- The formal statement or topic being debated.
- Warrant
- The reasoning that explains why the evidence supports the claim.