Meaning & use
uncontentious
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Not likely to cause disagreement or argument; accepted easily by everyone involved.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after linking verbs: an uncontentious point; the decision was uncontentious.
Patterns
- an uncontentious issue
- an uncontentious proposal
- something is uncontentious
The committee chose an uncontentious topic for its first meeting.
Her remarks were brief and uncontentious, so nobody objected.
Funding for road repairs is usually an uncontentious matter.
adjectivenot comparableformal
Not disputed or argued about by the people who must decide it.
Grammar: Often describes facts, evidence or decisions that no one challenges: an uncontentious fact.
Patterns
- an uncontentious fact
- uncontentious evidence
- remain uncontentious
The date of the treaty is an uncontentious fact.
Most of the report was uncontentious, but one chapter caused a long debate.
The judge said the earlier findings were uncontentious and could stand.
Common combinations
- an uncontentious issue
- They kept the discussion to uncontentious issues such as office furniture.
- relatively uncontentious
- Compared with the budget, the new rules are relatively uncontentious.
- uncontentious proposal
- The mayor put forward an uncontentious proposal to plant more trees.
- largely uncontentious
- The evidence presented at the hearing was largely uncontentious.
- uncontentious matter
- Holiday dates are an uncontentious matter in most workplaces.
Synonyms and how they differ
- undisputed
- Stronger: it means nobody disputes it at all, while uncontentious simply means it is unlikely to cause a dispute.
- noncontroversial
- Very close in meaning, but used more in American English and often about books, films or speeches.
- uncontroversial
- The more common everyday choice; uncontentious sounds more formal and slightly more legal.
- agreeable
- Focuses on pleasing people rather than on avoiding disagreement, so it does not fit facts or evidence.
Opposites
Word family
- contentious adjective
- Likely to cause argument; the opposite of uncontentious.
- contentiously adverb
- In a way that causes or shows argument.
- contention noun
- Disagreement, or a point that someone argues for.
Commonly confused: uncontentious or unconscious? uncontentious or inconsequential?
uncontentious vs unconscious
Sounds a little similar but means not awake or not aware. Uncontentious is about disagreement, not awareness.
uncontentious vs inconsequential
Means unimportant or having no effect. An uncontentious point can still be very important.
Practice
Which sentence uses uncontentious correctly?
Choose one answer.
Uncontentious describes something that causes no disagreement, so the council approving it quickly fits. Option An is wrong because an argument is by nature contentious. Option C confuses the word with unconscious, and option D uses an adjective where an adverb would be needed.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “uncontentious”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.