What does devil’s advocate mean?

 

Idiom Meaning:

adopt an opposing belief just for the sake of the argument

 

Examples of this Idiom in Movies & TV Shows:

 

CSI: NY “Damned If You Do” (2010)

Time of Scene: 00:28:00

Sid Hammerback: Often times, damage to the temporal lobe results in seizures and those seizures have a tendency to start in the hands.

Detective Mac Taylor: So it’s possible the movement of her finger up and down was involuntary. You think I made a mistake showing her the photograph?

Sid Hammerback: Well, like you said, she was responsive and obeying commands. I hate to play devil’s advocate here, Mac, but a defense attorney would have a field day with that ID. Bottom line, we don’t have a picture of what happened in her brain when she moved her finger. So there’s just no way to know if her ID is reliable.

Detective Mac Taylor: And now she’s defending her son.

 

Smallville “Doomsday” (2009)

Time of Scene: 00:20:30

Chloe Sullivan: Where’s Clark? You found a way to kill him, didn’t you? And Clark wouldn’t go along with it.

Black Canary: No. He wanted to play devil’s advocate with the actual devil. Split the Kryptonian from the human.

Chloe Sullivan: Black kryptonite.

Oliver Queen: Only one glitch in his plan. The whole beast part.

Bart Allen: Last time we checked, he couldn’t control his thornier alter ego.

Chloe Sullivan: No, but I can. As long as I stay with him, he doesn’t change. Please don’t do this to him.

Davis Bloome: They have to. Chloe, it’s not working anymore.

 

Lost in America (1985)

Time of Scene: 00:26:00

David Howard: Now, play devil’s advocate. Can’t you live 20 years on $145,000 if you’re living out of a motor home and just eating and painting and writing books? I mean, this is what we talked about when we were 19. Remember, we kept saying, “Let’s find ourselves,” but we didn’t have a dollar! So, we watched television instead.

 

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Devil's Advocate Idiom

 

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