opponency

plural opponencies

1. UKThe act of opening an academic disputation; the proposition of objections to a tenet, as an exercise for a degree.

   This is only a Trick to turn off the Opponency

   1699, Mr. Chandler, A True Narrative of the Portsmouth Disputation

   1 more example

   The chairman of the committee will be very glad to give you the opportunity to express your views, whether of proponency or opponency.

   1935, “letter”, in Department of science, art and literature: Hearings before the Committee on Patents, page 112