Argumentative type berated criminal (7)
I believe the answer is:
debater
'argumentative type' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'berated criminal' is the wordplay.
'criminal' indicates anagramming the letters.
'berated' is an anagram of 'DEBATER'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for debater that I've seen before include "One discussing topic" , "Person discussing" , "One arguing" , "One engaged in public argument" , "Speaker in parliament perhaps" .)