What's the difference between argument and polemic?

Argument


Definition:

  • (n.) Proof; evidence.
  • (n.) A reason or reasons offered in proof, to induce belief, or convince the mind; reasoning expressed in words; as, an argument about, concerning, or regarding a proposition, for or in favor of it, or against it.
  • (n.) A process of reasoning, or a controversy made up of rational proofs; argumentation; discussion; disputation.
  • (n.) The subject matter of a discourse, writing, or artistic representation; theme or topic; also, an abstract or summary, as of the contents of a book, chapter, poem.
  • (n.) Matter for question; business in hand.
  • (n.) The quantity on which another quantity in a table depends; as, the altitude is the argument of the refraction.
  • (n.) The independent variable upon whose value that of a function depends.
  • (v. i.) To make an argument; to argue.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "Britain needs to be in the room when the euro countries meet," he said, "so that it can influence the argument and ensure that what the 17 do will not damage the market or British interests.
  • (2) It is entirely proper for serving judges to set out the arguments in high-profile cases to help public understanding of the legal issues, as long as it is done in an even-handed way.
  • (3) Environment groups Environment groups that have strongly backed low-carbon power have barely wavered in their opposition to nuclear in the last decade, although their arguments now are now much about the cost than the danger it might pose.
  • (4) Cameron had a legitimate argument, but the marines didn't want to hear it.
  • (5) This is not an argument for the status quo: teaching must be given greater priority within HE, but the flipside has to be an understanding on the part of students, ministers, officials, the public and the media that academics (just like politicians) cannot make everyone happy all of the time.
  • (6) Pathological changes may, thus, be initially confined to projecting and intrinsic neurons localized in cortical and subcortical olfactory structures; arguments are advanced which favor the view that excitotoxic phenomena could be mainly responsible for the overall degenerative picture.
  • (7) The legs of that argument were cut off by the financial crisis.
  • (8) These changes in the isozyme pattern of PK in aggressive fibromatosis may act as another argument to place them in the category of malignant fibroblastic tumors.
  • (9) This provides a compelling argument that the protein kinase function of p37mos is an intrinsic property of the protein.
  • (10) He always had a logical approach to his arguments and I would have described him as fair at the time.
  • (11) There are, however, plenty of arguments to be made about the Slim Reaper's supporting cast.
  • (12) The soldiers allegedly launched the attack after one of their comrades was killed when he became involved in an argument over a woman near Fizi hospital.
  • (13) In support of this argument, a case of erosive arthritis is reported in a skeleton from Kulubnarti, Republic of the Sudan (c. 700-1450 A.D.).
  • (14) Mallon's finance and resources director, Paul Slocombe, thinks Pickles's argument is "slightly disingenuous" because the funding was part of the last spending review, which ends on 31 March.
  • (15) Since the four determining coefficients may change over evolutionary time-scales, the mathematical results together with a natural selection argument proves that virulence gamma 2 attenuates.
  • (16) It seeks to acquaint them with 'ethical' arguments against their work which, because they are simple and plausible, persuade many people.
  • (17) The IFS gave this argument an airing today, and produced figures to show that – on such a basis – the VAT rise was a fair tax after all.
  • (18) Questions are raised as to the validity of arguments that crossover positions have been demonstrated to be normally established only during pachytene (after synapsis is maximal).
  • (19) The rioting began on Wednesday after a deadly argument between a Muslim gold shop owner and his Buddhist customers in Meikhtila.
  • (20) However, to insist that those who advise an IUD with the motive of contraception cannot herefore object to, say, intrauterine saline aimed at the destruction of a moving 27-week fetus is, in my view, stretching his argument.

Polemic


Definition:

  • (a.) Of or pertaining to controversy; maintaining, or involving, controversy; controversial; disputative; as, a polemic discourse or essay; polemic theology.
  • (a.) Engaged in, or addicted to, polemics, or to controversy; disputations; as, a polemic writer.
  • (n.) One who writes in support of one opinion, doctrine, or system, in opposition to another; one skilled in polemics; a controversialist; a disputant.
  • (n.) A polemic argument or controversy.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) My idea in Orientalism was to use humanistic critique to open up the fields of struggle, to introduce a longer sequence of thought and analysis to replace the short bursts of polemical, thought-stopping fury that so imprison us.
  • (2) Byatt said that, while she had not wished to present an allegory or a polemic, the story was impelled by a profound sense of gloom about the environment and indeed about all human endeavours.
  • (3) Anyone who allows himself to stoop to such polemics shows that they are running out of proper arguments”, said Jürgen Hardt, the foreign affairs spokesman for Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats.
  • (4) i lent brett ratner my 2nd (of 2) parms dorz cos he wantd 2 impress women and I was worrid he mite get bbq sauce on it agen lol You've said your films are intended as "polemical statements against the American 'barrel down' cinema and its dis-empowerment of the spectator."
  • (5) As one of the disenchanted Labour voters described by MacAskill, I have had many polemics put my way: the most persuasive have been George Galloway's "Just Say Naw" and a speech on the implications of Scottish independence for business by Rupert Soames, CEO of the Scottish firm Aggreko.
  • (6) Moore had contributed an essay on women's anger to an anthology of polemical writing.
  • (7) As well as appearing on TV, she writes a weekly column in the Sunday Fairfax papers, a column on The Drum, and books ranging from a Quarterly Essay on Malcolm Turnbull to the popular culture polemic The Wife Drought.
  • (8) Hitting back at the harsh criticism he has received in recent days, including depictions of him in the Greek press as an IS terrorist who had beheaded Greece, he said: “I have such a thick skin that it can’t derail me, but what does torment me is distorting polemic that completely misses the point.” Soon afterwards Sahra Wagenknecht of the far-left Linke, accused him of being a “cutback Taliban”.
  • (9) It is suggested that if change in the biomedical system is a goal of a critical clinical anthropology, the impact will be greater where objective and broad causal connections can be demonstrated with minimal use of rote or polemic arguments.
  • (10) And the groundbreaking forays into popular culture - his examinations of the British seaside postcard and boys' comics - and the revered polemical essays appeared in periodicals such as Horizon and Polemic.
  • (11) But Florian Philippot, Le Pen’s closest adviser, dismissed the accusations as “a campaign polemic”, describing Jalkh as “serious, moderate … a patriot and an honest man”.
  • (12) Based on considerable personal experience and a rigorous and critical analysis of case-reports, a highly polemic subject is discussed.
  • (13) I do not wish to engage in polemics regarding the relative worth of behavioral and psychodynamic theories of treatment, but this paper reflects my own misgivings about certain aspects of the token economy and is concerned more with the quality of the ward atmosphere it creates than with specific behavior changes.
  • (14) In one of the more conspiracy theorising polemics I have read in some while, he described this wealth-creating, free-trading, economic stimulus simply as "a monstrous assault on democracy" by institutions, "which have been captured by the corporations they are supposed to regulate".
  • (15) Since antiquity, puerperal mental disorders have always been the field of polemics concerning the different possible etiopathogenic hypothesis.
  • (16) Often the boundary between experience and polemic gets blurred.
  • (17) They range from the generally accepted to the frankly polemical and the merely heuristic.
  • (18) Walden aims at conversion, and Thoreau's polemical purpose gives it an energy and drive missing in the meanders of the sole other book he saw into publication during his short lifetime, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849).
  • (19) The main polemic is over whether it is most useful to evaluate the total estsrogens or the individual fractions.
  • (20) It is clear that polemic is not sufficient and that consensus practices can only be based upon firm scientifically acquired data and detailed discussion of the options by those most intimately involved.