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View synonyms for argue

argue

[ ahr-gyoo ]

verb (used without object)

, ar·gued, ar·gu·ing.
  1. to present reasons for or against a thing:

    He argued in favor of capital punishment.

  2. to contend in oral disagreement; dispute:

    The senator argued with the president about the new tax bill.



verb (used with object)

, ar·gued, ar·gu·ing.
  1. to state the reasons for or against:

    The lawyers argued the case.

  2. to maintain in reasoning:

    to argue that the news report must be wrong.

  3. to persuade, drive, etc., by reasoning:

    to argue someone out of a plan.

  4. to show; prove; imply; indicate:

    His clothes argue poverty.

argue

/ ˈɑːɡjuː /

verb

  1. intr to quarrel; wrangle

    they were always arguing until I arrived

  2. intr; often foll by for or against to present supporting or opposing reasons or cases in a dispute; reason
  3. tr; may take a clause as object to try to prove by presenting reasons; maintain
  4. tr; often passive to debate or discuss

    the case was fully argued before agreement was reached

  5. tr to persuade

    he argued me into going

  6. tr to give evidence of; suggest

    her looks argue despair



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Derived Forms

  • ˈarguer, noun

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Other Words From

  • argu·er noun
  • counter·argue verb counterargued counterarguing
  • over·argue verb overargued overarguing
  • re·argue verb reargued rearguing
  • well-argued adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of argue1

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Anglo-French, Old French arguer, from Latin argūtāre, argūtārī “to babble, chatter,” frequentative of arguere “to prove, assert, accuse” (in Medieval Latin: “to argue, reason”)

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Word History and Origins

Origin of argue1

C14: from Old French arguer to assert, charge with, from Latin arguere to make clear, accuse; related to Latin argūtus clear, argentum silver

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Example Sentences

In the book, Tavris and Aronson argue that the same ability to overlook minor flaws in a marriage leads to overlooking major ones.

Mailer would argue, for example, that timidity does more harm to the novelist than donning a mask of extreme self-confidence.

One could argue that this was never exactly hidden from her readers.

“Women go to the bathroom together and gossip, talk and argue all the time,” Vithi Cuc told The National.

Starting with the idea of androgyny, you argue that there is a woman in every man, and vice versa.

"But I can't stop to argue about it now;" and, saying this, he turned into a side path, and disappeared in the wood.

This seemed entirely unnecessary to mine host, and he wanted to argue the point.

When people argue in this strain, I immediately assume the offensive.

But she knew it was useless to argue with Henry, so she hastily groped in the bag for the matches and handed them to her brother.

It would argue too much literary conceit on my part were I anxious to restore it to the light of day.

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