Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - dialectic

 noun  Etymology: Middle English dialetik, from Anglo-French dialetiqe, from Latin ~a, from Greek dialektike, from feminine of dialektikos of conversation, from dialektos  Date: 14th century  1. logic 1a(1)  2.  a. discussion and reasoning by dialogue as a method of intellectual investigation; specifically the Socratic techniques of exposing false beliefs and eliciting truth  b. the Platonic investigation of the eternal ideas  3. the logic of fallacy  4.  a. the Hegelian process of change in which a concept or its realization passes over into and is preserved and fulfilled by its opposite; also the critical investigation of this process  b.  (1) usually plural but singular or plural in construction development through the stages of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis in accordance with the laws of ~al materialism  (2) the investigation of this process  (3) the theoretical application of this process especially in the social sciences  5. usually plural but singular or plural in construction  a. any systematic reasoning, exposition, or argument that juxtaposes opposed or contradictory ideas and usually seeks to resolve their conflict  b. an intellectual exchange of ideas  6. the ~al tension or opposition between two interacting forces or elements