Examples of “devil's advocate” in a Sentence

noun Someone who argues a position they do not personally hold, in order to test an argument or provoke fuller discussion.

• Let me play devil's advocate for a moment: what happens if nobody signs up?
• Every good editorial meeting needs one devil's advocate.
• Let me play devil's advocate for a moment — what if the launch date slips?
• He is not being cruel, he is just being a devil's advocate about the whole plan.

noun In the Roman Catholic Church, the official formerly appointed to argue against the canonization of a candidate for sainthood by setting out evidence of their faults.

• The devil's advocate combed the record for evidence that the miracles were unproven.
• The devil's advocate was required to scrutinize every claimed miracle.