| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| argue |
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| SYLLABICATION: | ar·gue |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  är gy |
| VERB: | Inflected forms: ar·gued, ar·gu·ing, ar·gues
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To put forth reasons for or against; debate: “It is time to stop arguing tax-rate reductions and to enact them” (Paul Craig Roberts). 2. To attempt to prove by reasoning; maintain or contend: The speaker argued that more immigrants should be admitted to the country. 3. To give evidence of; indicate: “Similarities cannot always be used to argue descent” (Isaac Asimov). 4. To persuade or influence (another), as by presenting reasons: argued the clerk into lowering the price. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To put forth reasons for or against something: argued for dismissal of the case; argued against an immediate counterattack. 2. To engage in a quarrel; dispute. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English arguen, from Old French arguer, from Latin arg t re, to babble, chatter, frequentative of arguere, to make clear. See arg- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | argu·er —NOUN
| | SYNONYMS: | argue, quarrel1, wrangle, squabble, bicker These verbs denote verbal exchange expressing conflict. To argue is to present reasons or facts in order to persuade someone of something: “I am not arguing with you—I am telling you” (James McNeill Whistler). Quarrel stresses hostility: The children quarreled over whose turn it was to wash the dishes. Wrangle refers to loud, contentious argument: “audiences . . . who can be overheard wrangling about film facts in restaurants and coffee houses” (Sheila Benson). Squabble suggests petty or trivial argument: “The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin . . . would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities” (Theodore Roosevelt). Bicker connotes sharp, persistent, bad-tempered exchange: The senators bickered about the President's tax proposal for weeks. See also synonyms at discuss, indicate.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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