Meaning & use
a debate club
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Meaning
nouncountable
a group of people who meet regularly to discuss topics formally and argue for or against them.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a debate club' or 'debate clubs'. Often used with 'join' or 'start'.
Patterns
- join a debate club
- a debate club at school
- be in a debate club
She joined the debate club to improve her public speaking.
Our debate club meets every Friday after school.
The debate club organized a competition between two local schools.
Word forms
| plural | debate clubs |
|---|
Common combinations
- join a debate club
- He decided to join a debate club this year.
- school debate club
- The school debate club won a national prize.
- debate club meeting
- The debate club meeting starts at 4 p.m.
- member of a debate club
- As a member of a debate club, she learns to argue clearly.
Synonyms and how they differ
- debating society
- More formal and common in British English for a university group.
Word family
Commonly confused: a debate club or discussion club?
a debate club vs discussion club
A discussion club is less formal and does not always involve opposing sides.
Practice
She wants to improve her speaking, so she plans to ______ the debate club.
Choose one answer.
'Join a club' is the correct phrase. 'Join in' is used for activities, not clubs; 'attend to' means to deal with; 'take part' needs 'in' and is less natural here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a debate club”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.