What it means
Means you deliberately argue the other side for a minute to pressure-test an idea, poke at weak spots, or stop the room from sleepwalking into agreement. It doesn't mean that's your real opinion. You're basically throwing a friendly wrench in the logic to see if it still runs.
Usage examples
"I’ll play devil’s advocate: if we bin the whole plan, what’s the worst that happens? We save cash, avoid drama, and everyone survives."
"Let me play devil’s advocate for a second: what if nobody actually wants this feature and we’ve built it for ourselves?"
"He always plays devil’s advocate in meetings, not because he disagrees, just to make sure we’ve poked every hole before we commit."
"I'm not even against it, I'm just playing devil's advocate so we don't launch this thing and realise it's held together with vibes."
"She played devil's advocate at dinner and suddenly everyone noticed the plan had three massive holes in it."
Where it comes from
It comes from the Catholic Church’s old "devil’s advocate" role, from the Latin advocatus diaboli. That person’s job was to argue hard against someone being made a saint, dragging every awkward doubt into daylight so the case got properly tested before anybody started halo-polishing.
Editors of this term
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We look after this expression together
If they say it where you live and something is missing here, bring it. A magikito looks at it and adds it.
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