Word: argument Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂erǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-us Proto-Indo-European *h₂érǵus Proto-Italic *argus Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *-ti Proto-Italic *-ō Proto-Italic *arguō Latin arguō Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom Proto-Italic *-mentom Latin -mentum Latin argūmentumder. Anglo-Norman arguementbor. Middle English argument English argument From Middle English argument, from Anglo-Norman and Old French arguement, from Latin argumentum. The English word is analysable as argue + -ment. Doublet of argumentum. Displaced native Old English racu and ġeflit. Pronunciation: /ˈɑːɡjʊmənt/, /ˈɑɹɡjʊmənt/, /-ɡju-/, /-ɡjə-/ 1. A fact or statement used to support a proposition; a reason. Labels: also, countable, figuratively Example: There is no greater, at leaſt no more palpable and convincing Argument of the Exiſtence of a Deity than the admirable Art and Wiſdom that diſcovers itſelf in the make and conſtitution, the order and diſpoſition, the ends and uſes of all the parts and members of this ſtately fabrick of Heaven and Earth. Example: Says Plowdon [i.e., Edmund Plowden], the whale so caught belongs to the King and Queen, “because of its superior excellence.” And by the soundest commentators this has ever been held a cogent argument in such matters. 2. A fact or statement used to support a proposition; a reason. Labels: also, countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: Consider the argument: / 15) I am hungry; therefore I am hungry. / Intuitively this should count as valid. But suppose we thought of the components of arguments as sentences, and suppose we imagine the context shifting between the utterance of the premise and the utterance of the conclusion. Suppose you are hungry and utter the premise, and I am not hungry and utter the conclusion. Then we would have a true premise and a false conclusion, so the argument would not be valid. Clearly we need to avoid such problems, and introducing the notion of a proposition, in the style of this section, is one way of doing so. Example: In ‘The Critic of Arguments’ (1892), [Charles Sanders] Peirce adopts a notion that is even closer to that of a propositional function. There he develops the concept of the ‘rhema’. He says the rhema is like a relative term, but it is not a term. It contains a copula, that is, when joined to the correct number of arguments it produces an assertion. For example, ‘__ is bought by __ from __ for __’ is a four-place rhema. Applying it to four objects a, b, c, and d produces the assertion that a is bought by b from c for d[…]. 3. A process of reasoning; argumentation. Labels: countable Example: Indeed, I cannot commend my life; for I am conſcious to my ſelf of many failings: therein, I know alſo that a man by his converſation, may ſoon overthrow what by argument or perſwaſion he doth labour to faſten upon others for their good: […] Example: For if the Idea be not agreed on, betwixt the Speaker and Hearer, for which the Words ſtand, the Argument is not about Things, but Names. 4. An abstract or summary of the content of a literary work such as a book, a poem or a major section such as a chapter, included in the work before the content itself; (figuratively) the contents themselves. Labels: countable Example: If I would broach the veſſels of my loue, / And try the argument of hearts, by borrowing, / Men, and mens fortunes, could I frankely vſe / As I can bid thee ſpeake. 5. A verbal dispute; a quarrel. Labels: countable Example: The neighbours got into an argument about the branches of the trees that extended over the fence. Example: Ar[mado]. Come hither, come hither: How did this argument begin. Boy. By ſaying that a Coſtard was broken in a ſhin, Then cald you for the Lenuoy [i.e. l'envoy]. Clow[ne; i.e., Costard]. True, and I for a Plantan, thus came your argument in, Then the boyes fat Lenuoy, the Gooſe that you bought, and he ended the market. 6. Any dispute, altercation, or collision. Labels: broadly, countable, euphemistic, humorous, uncountable Example: Steve got in a physical argument with his neighbor and came away with a black eye. Example: While biking home, he got in an argument with the pavement. 7. Any of the phrases that bear a syntactic connection to the verb of a clause. Labels: countable Example: In numerous works over the past two decades, beginning with the pioneering work of Gruber (1965), Fillmore (1968a), and Jackendoff (1972), it has been argued that each Argument (i.e. Subject or Complement) of a Predicate bears a particular thematic role (alias theta-role, or θ-role to its Predicate), and that the set of thematic functions which Arguments can fulfil are drawn from a highly restricted, finite, universal set. 8. The independent variable of a function. Labels: countable, uncountable 9. The phase of a complex number. Labels: countable, uncountable 10. A quantity on which the calculation of another quantity depends. Labels: also, countable, uncountable Example: The altitude is the argument of the refraction. 11. A value, or a reference to a value, passed to a function. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Parameters are like labelled fillable blanks used to define a function whereas arguments are passed to a function when calling it, filling in those blanks. 12. A parameter at a function call; an actual parameter, as opposed to a formal parameter. Labels: countable, uncountable 13. A matter in question; a business in hand. Labels: countable, obsolete, uncountable Example: As neere as I could ſift him on that argument, On ſome apparent danger ſeene in him, Aimde at your highnes, no inueterate malice. Example: On, on, you Nobliſh Engliſh, / Whoſe blood is fet from Fathers of Warre-proofe: / Fathers, that like ſo many Alexanders, / Haue in theſe parts from Morne till Euen fought, / And ſheath’d their Swords, for lack of argument. 14. The subject matter of an artistic representation, discourse, or writing; a theme or topic. Labels: countable, obsolete, uncountable Example: [I]n vttering the ſtuffe ye receiued of the one, in declaring the order ye tooke with the other, ye ſhall neuer lacke, neither matter, nor maner, what to write, nor how to write in this kinde of Argument. Example: Belike this ſhow imports the argument of the play. 15. Evidence, proof; (countable) an item of such evidence or proof. Labels: archaic, uncountable Example: [F]or louing me, by my troth it is no addition to her wit, nor no great argument of her follie, for I will be horribly in loue with her, […]