devil's advocate: Meaning and Definition of

dev'il's ad'vocate

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. a person who advocates an opposing or unpopular cause for the sake of argument or to expose it to a thorough examination.
  2. Also calledan official appointed to present arguments against a proposed beatification or canonization of a beatus.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.