argument

Less common meanings

6. 6
   math inputnouncountable

   In mathematics, the independent variable of a function: the input quantity on which the function's value depends.

   The sine function takes an angle as its argument.

   For each value of the argument, the function returns exactly one output.

   Note

   The mathematician's name for what goes in. In f(x), x is the argument and f(x) is the value, and a function is said to be evaluated at an argument. The same idea reappears in the programmer's argument, passed in a function call. Do not confuse it with the angle of a complex number, which shares the name but not the idea.

7. 7
   physical clashnounhumorouseuphemistichumorouscountable

   A clash, altercation, or even a physical collision, treated humorously as a dispute.

   His car had an argument with the garage door and came off worse.

   The boat clearly lost its argument with the rocks.

   UsageUsually have or lose an argument with a thing (a tree, the rocks). Said of a real injury, it can sound flippant.

   Similarrun-in, encounter, collision, altercation

   Note

   A joke built on understatement: calling a collision an argument turns it into a disagreement that went badly. A thing typically has or loses an argument with something, a cyclist with the pavement. John Crosse, writing in RAIL in 2022, says D5131 took cab damage in an argument with Class 37 D6855 at Inverness.

8. 8
   summarynouncountable

   A summary of the content of a book, poem, or chapter, placed before the work itself; figuratively, the contents themselves.

   Milton placed a brief argument before each book of his epic.

   The poem's argument outlines the journey the hero will take.

   Similarsummary, synopsis, outline, abstract

   Note

   This argument is a piece of book furniture: the summary set ahead of a poem, a book or a chapter, as before each book of Paradise Lost. Keep it apart from the "theme" meaning: one is a text you can read, the other is what a text is about. The figurative stretch shows in Shakespeare's Timon of Athens, where to "try the argument of hearts" is to test what hearts hold. Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Paradise Lost has an introductory argument before each book. en.wikipedia.org
   • The quoted words occur in Shakespeare's Timon of Athens, spoken by Timon. gutenberg.org
   • The Shakespeare quotation exemplifies the figurative sense of argument as contents, supporting the explanation about testing what hearts hold. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   grammarnouncountable

   A phrase that helps complete the meaning of a verb, such as its subject or object, as opposed to an optional modifier.

   The verb 'give' takes three arguments: a giver, a thing given, and a recipient.

   In 'she sleeps,' the pronoun 'she' is the single argument of the verb.

   Note

   A grammarian's count of what a verb takes: its subject and complements. The verb selects its arguments, while adjuncts are optional. In "she sleeps soundly," she is an argument and soundly is not. Andrew Radford's Transformational Grammar (1988) traces to Gruber, Fillmore and Jackendoff the idea that each argument of a predicate bears a particular role. Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • A verb's arguments include its subject and complements. en.wiktionary.org
   • Verbs select their arguments. en.wikipedia.org
   • Adjuncts are optional. en.wikipedia.org
   • In the example, she is the subject argument of sleeps; soundly is an adjunct. en.wikipedia.org
   • Andrew Radford wrote Transformational Grammar: A First Course, first published in 1988. api.pageplace.de
   • Radford traces the proposal that predicate arguments bear particular thematic roles to pioneering work by Gruber, Fillmore and Jackendoff. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    themenounobsoletecountable or uncountable

    The subject matter of a piece of writing, art, or speech; its theme or topic.

    The abstract, or argument of the piece, is shortly as follows.

    1844, Francis Jeffrey, “Sardanapalus, a Tragedy. The Two Foscari, a Tragedy. Cain, a Mystery. By Lord Byron. 8vo. pp. 440. Murray, London

    Belike this ſhow imports the argument of the play.

    c. 1599, William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet

    Note

    The poet's theme, in a sense now obsolete. In Sonnet 76 Shakespeare tells his love, "you and love are still my argument," meaning his constant subject. It reached visual art too, as in Paradise Lost's shields "with boastful Argument portraid," meaning the designs painted on them. A modern writer would say subject or theme. Source

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • Argument historically meant a poet's theme or subject matter. en.wiktionary.org
    • Shakespeare's Sonnet 76 addresses the beloved with the quoted words. folger.edu
    • Argument in Sonnet 76 means the poet's constant subject. folger.edu
    • Paradise Lost uses the quoted phrase to describe shields. rpo.library.utoronto.ca
    • The phrase refers to designs depicted on the shields. e-rara.ch
11. 11
    nounobsoletecountable or uncountable

    A matter under discussion; the business currently in hand.

    As neere as I could ſift him on that argument, On ſome apparent danger ſeene in him, Aimde at your highnes, no inueterate malice.

    1595, [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. (First Quarto)

    Note

    An Elizabethan sense that can trip a modern reader. Shakespeare's Henry V praises fathers who "sheath'd their swords for lack of argument." They lacked business, not reasons: there was nothing left to fight. In Richard II, to "sift him on that argument" is to question him on the matter at hand. Read it as matter or affair, and since it is obsolete, keep it out of modern prose. Source

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • This sense of argument was used in the Elizabethan period. en.wiktionary.org
    • In Shakespeare's Henry V, King Henry praises the soldiers' fathers using the quoted words. upload.wikimedia.org
    • The Henry V passage means that the fathers had no further fighting to do. upload.wikimedia.org
    • Richard II contains the quoted phrase, spoken by John of Gaunt about questioning his son on the matter. folger.edu
    • Matter or affair conveys the historical sense illustrated. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    proofnounarchaiccountable or uncountable

    Evidence or proof of something; a single item of such evidence or proof.

    Note

    Archaic in a way that hides in plain sight: argument of something meant evidence or a sign of it. In Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing, loving the speaker is "no great argument of her follie," meaning no proof that she is foolish. In older prose, read argument of as proof of. In modern writing, evidence or proof says it without the trap. Source

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Argument historically meant evidence or proof. en.wiktionary.org
    • Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing contains the quoted wording, including the spelling follie. en.wiktionary.org
    • The speaker is Benedick, discussing Beatrice's supposed love for him; argument here means evidence or proof of her foolishness. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
13. 13
    verbobsoleteintransitive

    To argue; to put forward reasons or evidence in support of a point.

    Hence, domestic potato marketing cannot be argumented in such fashion.

    1983, Gregory J. Scott, Marketing Bhutan’s Potatoes: Present Patterns and Future Prospects

    Note

    A verb with its own origin: Middle English argumenten, from Old French argumenter and Latin argūmentārī. It inflects regularly as argumenting and argumented. Thomas Chalmers, writing before 1848, still has "after argumenting the utter worthlessness" of works. It is long obsolete in native use and now turns up mainly in non-native speakers' English, where it is nonstandard. Argue is the form to use. Source

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The historical verb derives from Middle English argumenten, through Old French argumenter, from Latin argūmentārī. en.wiktionary.org
    • The verb has the regular forms argumenting and argumented. en.wiktionary.org
    • Thomas Chalmers used the quoted phrase about works in his introductory essay to Archibald Hall's treatise. en.wiktionary.org
    • Chalmers wrote the passage before 1848; this is a writing-date bound, not the date of the cited collected edition. en.wikipedia.org
14. 14
    noun

    The angle a complex number makes with the positive real axis when plotted; its phase.