🗓️ Idiom: Play Devil’s Advocate (v)
💬 Meaning
- To argue against an idea or plan, even if you don’t disagree with it, in order to test its strength.
- To question something to help others think more deeply or see risks.
🧠 Example Sentences
- During the meeting, she played devil’s advocate to help the team find weaknesses in the plan.
- I don’t really disagree, but let me play devil’s advocate for a moment.
- He often plays devil’s advocate so we can prepare for possible objections.
🏛️ Origin
The phrase comes from the Catholic Church in the 1500s. A person called the “Devil’s Advocate” was chosen to argue against the case for someone becoming a saint. This helped test the facts more carefully. Now it means to argue a different view to help others think more clearly.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
She didn’t disagree, but she decided to __________ to see if the idea was strong.
Answer
play devil’s advocate
2. Choose the correct meaning of “play devil’s advocate”:
A) Support all ideas without question
B) Argue only for personal gain
C) Question an idea to test how strong it is
Answer
C) Question an idea to test how strong it is
3. Rewrite the sentence using the idiom:
“He asked difficult questions to help us think more clearly.” → Change the sentence using: play devil’s advocate
Answer
He played devil’s advocate to help us think more clearly.
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