argument
a fact or assertion offered as evidence that something is true
How often you will meet it
Rank 2,464 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 6,926 times across 175,113 chapters — 0.003% of every word in the library.
What it means
noun
- a fact or assertion offered as evidence that something is true also: statement it was a strong argument that his hypothesis was true
- a contentious speech act; a dispute where there is strong disagreement also: controversy, contention, contestation, disputation, disceptation, tilt they were involved in a violent argument
- a discussion in which reasons are advanced for and against some proposition or proposal also: argumentation, debate the argument over foreign aid goes on and on
- a summary of the subject or plot of a literary work or play or movie also: literary argument the editor added the argument to the poem
- (computer science) a reference or value that is passed to a function, procedure, subroutine, command, or program also: parameter
- a variable in a logical or mathematical expression whose value determines the dependent variable; if f(x)=y, x is the independent variable
argument in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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Nevertheless, my mother was not even open to reasonable argument on the matter.
The Firelight Fairy Book · Henry Beston · Chapter 1
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I had never been able to follow the argument, but that is a detail.
Greville Fane · Henry James · Chapter 1
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Combined with the rhetoric, however, there is a mass of sober argument that again suggests the later Lincoln.
Lincoln's Inaugurals, Addresses and Letters · Abraham Lincoln · Chapter 1
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For eloquence,'tis possible, does not consist in shrieking, And really where's the argument in all this thundering roar?
Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 08, May 21, 1870 · Various · Chapter 1
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This blemish has been used as an argument against the unity of authorship, but writers of all ages have made graver mistakes.
The Odyssey of Homer · 751? BCE-651? BCE Homer · Chapter 1