"contentious conversation" is correct and usable in written English.
It is typically used to describe a conversation that is full of disagreement and conflict. For example, "The contentious conversation between the two political leaders quickly became heated."
There is also a noisy subculture of obfuscation and denial that has pulled an already contentious conversation about climate change and the environment down into the fever swamp of American ideological animus.
The lawsuit angered Bank of New York Mellon, and as Mr. Schneiderman was leaving the memorial service last week for Hugh Carey, the former New York governor who died Aug. 7, an attendee said Mr. Schneiderman became embroiled in a contentious conversation with Kathryn S. Wylde, a member of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York who represents the public.
And in others, it's considered a breakdown in decorum to have even a remotely contentious conversation.
The two have a frank, detailed and often contentious conversation about what the commission plans to do about Social Security benefits.
But once again, Congress is kicking the can down the road, because we are going to have this same contentious conversation next fall when this extension expires.
An Al Jazeera host had an extremely contentious conversation with a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister over a series of attacks on a media building in Gaza over the past two days.
"Most citizens are consumers, not investors," he told me during one of our long, occasionally contentious conversations.
Do you ever find yourself in contentious conversations with adherents of sunnier brands of Christianity and other religions?
Recent rezoning to protect 111 blocks in the East Village and the Lower East Side spurred sometimes contentious conversations among Chinatown residents.
As for the contentious conversations the effort generated, "when you engage any profession in defining what it does, it's worth a debate," said Mr. Tisch, who is also chief executive at Argyle Communications in Toronto.
But the absence of meltdowns, tense moments or contentious conversations may be reassuring about the president's temperament, but it is not particularly helpful in a chronicle of the drama and suspense of this extraordinary campaign.
