Argument

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Argument \Ar"gu*ment\, n. [F. argument, L. argumentum, fr.
     arguere to argue.]
     1. Proof; evidence. [Obs.]
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              There is.. no more palpable and convincing argument


              of the existence of a Deity.          --Ray.
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              Why, then, is it made a badge of wit and an argument
              of parts for a man to commence atheist, and to cast
              off all belief of providence, all awe and reverence
              for religion?                         --South.
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     2. A reason or reasons offered in proof, to induce belief, or
        convince the mind; reasoning expressed in words; as, an
        argument about, concerning, or regarding a proposition,
        for or in favor of it, or against it.
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     3. A process of reasoning, or a controversy made up of
        rational proofs; argumentation; discussion; disputation.
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              The argument is about things, but names. --Locke.
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     4. The subject matter of a discourse, writing, or artistic
        representation; theme or topic; also, an abstract or
        summary, as of the contents of a book, chapter, poem.
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              You and love are still my argument.   --Shak.
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              The abstract or argument of the piece. --Jeffrey.
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              [Shields] with boastful argument portrayed.
                                                    --Milton.
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     5. Matter for question; business in hand. [Obs.]
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              Sheathed their swords for lack of argument. --Shak.
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     6. (Astron.) The quantity on which another quantity in a
        table depends; as, the altitude is the argument of the
        refraction.
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     7. (Math.) The independent variable upon whose value that of
        a function depends. --Brande & C.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Argument \Ar"gu*ment\ ([a^]r"g[-u]*ment), v. i. [L.
     argumentari.]
     To make an argument; to argue. [Obs.] --Gower.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  argument
       n 1: a fact or assertion offered as evidence that something is
            true; "it was a strong argument that his hypothesis was
            true" [syn: {statement}]
       2: a contentious speech act; a dispute where there is strong
          disagreement; "they were involved in a violent argument"
          [syn: {controversy}, {contention}, {contestation}, {disputation},
           {disceptation}, {tilt}, {arguing}]
       3: a discussion in which reasons are advanced for and against
          some proposition or proposal; "the argument over foreign
          aid goes on and on" [syn: {argumentation}, {debate}]
       4: a summary of the subject or plot of a literary work or play
          or movie; "the editor added the argument to the poem"
          [syn: {literary argument}]
       5: a variable in a logical or mathematical expression whose
          value determines the dependent variable; if f(x)=y, x is
          the independent variable

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  243 Moby Thesaurus words for "argument":
     Kilkenny cats, action, addend, affray, altercation, anagnorisis,
     angle, answer, antilogarithm, apologetics, apologia, apology,
     architectonics, architecture, argumentation, argumentum, assertion,
     atmosphere, background, barney, base, basis, bicker, bickering,
     binomial, blood feud, brawl, broil, case, casuistry,
     cat-and-dog life, catastrophe, characteristic, characterization,
     claim, coefficient, color, combat, combination, complement,
     complication, conflict, congruence, cons, consideration, constant,
     contention, contentiousness, contest, contestation, continuity,
     contrivance, controversy, cosine, cotangent, counterstatement,
     cube, cut and thrust, debate, decimal, defence, defense, demurrer,
     denial, denominator, denouement, derivative, design, determinant,
     development, device, difference, differential, disagreement,
     discriminate, disputation, dispute, dissension, dividend, divisor,
     donnybrook, donnybrook fair, e, elenchus, embroilment, enmity,
     episode, equation, evidence, exception, exponent, exponential,
     fable, factor, falling action, falling-out, feud, fight, fighting,
     fliting, flyting, formula, foundation, fracas, fray, function,
     fuss, gimmick, ground, hassle, head, hostility, hubbub, hurrah, i,
     ignoratio elenchi, imbroglio, incident, increment, index, integral,
     line, litigation, local color, logic, logomachy, matrix, matter,
     minuend, mood, motif, motive, movement, multiple, multiplier,
     mythos, norm, numerator, objection, open quarrel, paper war,
     parameter, passage of arms, peripeteia, permutation, pi, plaidoyer,
     plan, plea, pleading, pleadings, plot, point, polemic, polemics,
     polynomial, position, posture, power, proof, proposition, pros,
     pros and cons, quarrel, quarreling, quarrelsomeness, quaternion,
     quotient, radical, radix, reason, rebuttal, reciprocal,
     recognition, refutation, remainder, reply, response, rhubarb,
     riposte, rising action, root, row, rumpus, scheme, scrap,
     scrapping, secant, secondary plot, set-to, sharp words, sine,
     slanging match, slant, snarl, spat, special demurrer,
     special pleading, squabble, squabbling, stance, standpoint,
     statement, statement of defense, story, strife, structure,
     struggle, subject, subject matter, submultiple, subplot,
     subtrahend, summation, summing up, switch, talking point, tangent,
     tensor, testimony, text, thematic development, theme, thesis, tiff,
     tone, topic, tussle, twist, variable, vector, vendetta,
     verbal engagement, versine, war, war of words, warfare, wherefore,
     why, whyfor, words, wrangle, wrangling
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  argument
       
           (Or "arg") A value or reference passed to a
          {function}, {procedure}, {subroutine}, command or program, by
          the caller.  For example, in the function
       
          	square(x) = x * x
       
          x is the {formal argument} or "parameter" and in the call
       
          	y = square(3+3)
       
          3+3 is the {actual argument}.  This will, in most cases,
          execute the function square with x having the value 6.
       
          There are many different conventions for passing arguments to
          functions and procedures including {call-by-value},
          {call-by-name}, {call-by-need}.  These affect whether the
          value of the argument is computed by the caller or the callee
          (the function) and whether the callee can modify the value of
          the argument as seen by the caller (if it is a variable).
       
          Arguments to functions are usually, following mathematical
          notation, written in parentheses after the function name,
          separated by commas.  Arguments to a program are usually given
          after the command name, separated by spaces, e.g.:
       
          	cat myfile yourfile hisfile
       
          Here "cat" is the command and "myfile", "yourfile", and
          "hisfile" are the arguments.
       
          See also: {curried function}.
       
          (2002-07-02)
       
       

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  ARGUMENT, practice. Cicero defines it ii probable reason proposed in order
  to induce belief. Ratio probabilis et idonea ad faciendam fidem. The
  logicians define it more scientifically to be a means, which by its
  connexion between two extremes) establishes a relation between them. This
  subject belongs rather to rhetoric and logic than to law.