argument

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Contents

English[edit]

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Etymology[edit]

From Middle English, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French, from Latin argumentum (“proof, evidence, token, subject, contents”), from arguere (“to prove, argue”); see argue.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK) IPA: /ˈɑːɡjʊmənt/, X-SAMPA: /"A:gjUm@nt/
  • (US) IPA: /ˈɑɹɡjumənt/, /ˈɑɹɡjʊmənt/, /ˈɑɹɡjəmənt/, X-SAMPA: /"Ar\gjum@nt/, /"Ar\gjUm@nt/, /"Ar\gj@m@nt/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)

Noun[edit]

argument (plural arguments)

  1. A fact or statement used to support a proposition; a reason.
  2. A verbal dispute; a quarrel.
  3. A process of reasoning.
  4. (philosophy, logic) A series of propositions organized so that the final proposition is a conclusion which is intended to follow logically from the preceding propositions, which function as premises.
    • 2001, Mark Sainsbury, chapter 1, Logical Forms — An Introduction to Philosophical Logic, edition 2nd, Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 978-0-63121-679-7, §8, page 35:
         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.
  5. (mathematics) The independent variable of a function.
  6. (programming) A value, or reference to a value, passed to a function.
    • 2011 July 20, Edwin Mares, “Propositional Functions”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, accessed on 2012-07-15:
      In ‘The Critic of Arguments’ (1892), 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 (ibid. 420).
    Parameters are like labeled fillable blanks used to define a function whereas arguments are passed to a function when calling it, filling in those blanks.
  7. (programming) A parameter in a function definition; an actual parameter, as opposed to a formal parameter.
  8. (linguistics) Any of the phrases that bears a syntactic connection to the verb of a clause.

Usage notes[edit]

  • (formal parameter in a function definition): Some authors regard use of "argument" to mean "formal parameter" to be imprecise, preferring that argument refers only to the value that is used to instantiate the parameter at runtime, while parameter refers only to the name in the function definition that will be instantiated.

Synonyms[edit]

Meronyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

fact or statement used to support a proposition; a reason
verbal dispute; a quarrel
process of reasoning
independent variable
variable that is being passed to a function
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

External links[edit]

Czech[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • audio (Czech Republic)
    		(file)

Noun[edit]

argument m

  1. argument (fact or statement used to support a proposition)

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

See also[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin argūmentum, from arguō (“prove, argue”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • audio (France)
    		(file)

Noun[edit]

argument m (plural arguments)

  1. argument
    Quels que soient les arguments que vous avancez, je ne pourrai pas vous croire.

Serbo-Croatian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA: /arɡǔment/
  • Hyphenation: ar‧gu‧ment

Noun[edit]

argùment m (Cyrillic spelling аргу̀мент)

  1. argument (fact or statement used to support a proposition)
  2. (philosophy, logic, mathematics, programming) argument

Declension[edit]

    declension of argument
singular plural
nominative argument argumenti
genitive argumenta argumenata
dative argumentu argumentima
accusative argument argumente
vocative argumente argumenti
locative argumentu argumentima
instrumental argumentom argumentima

Swedish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

argument n

  1. an argument; a reason
  2. (mathematics) an argument; an independent variable passed to a function
  3. (programming) an argument; a variable passed to a function

Declension[edit]

Declension of argument
singular plural
Neuter indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative argument argumentet argument argumenten
genitive arguments argumentets arguments argumentens
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