Short for Disadvantage, this is an argument used in cross examination debate by the negative team. The argument explains the possible negative affects resulting from the implementation of the affirmative case. Example: The affirmative team gives more money to the schools. The Negative team would present the spending disad which would say that spending more money would lead the US into recession and recession leads to depression and depression leads to war. Most disads are far fetched and probably would not happen in real life, but they must be debated out in a round.