(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.
Quibble
Definition:
(n.) A shift or turn from the point in question; a trifling or evasive distinction; an evasion; a cavil.
(n.) A pun; a low conceit.
(v. i.) To evade the point in question by artifice, play upon words, caviling, or by raising any insignificant or impertinent question or point; to trifle in argument or discourse; to equivocate.
(v. i.) To pun; to practice punning.
Example Sentences:
(1) And please don’t quibble about whether you have any direct lineage to the architects of racism.
(2) Quibbling over whether fashion is more or less important than art is just as pointless as questioning whether or not it is art.
(3) And with four years as her nation’s chief diplomat on the world stage under her belt, Mrs Clinton’s personal gravitas is even harder to quibble with than it might have been in 2008.
(4) Dammers learned that Mandela had just one quibble with the Special AKA song.
(5) Other quibbles: some iPhone apps don't scale so brilliantly to such a large screen.
(6) To quibble further, one might say, is to simply argue about hinges.
(7) I find myself wondering how far I should go to say that FGM is the slicing off on a conscious young girl with no anaesthetic of her clitoris and labia... “This is a quibble about a couple of stitches and it is a complete distraction.” Mr Justice Sweeney, in summing up to the jury on Wednesday, said everyone accepted Dharmasena had saved the life of the woman’s baby in an emergency delivery on 24 November, 2012.
(8) "While I do quibble with the ethics (or lack of ethics) in posting the Salinger stories, they look to be true transcripts of the originals and match my own copies."
(9) You have explained how you have got caught up in this thing, you've explained your motives: I don't want to quibble about any of that.
(10) Even the US administration, which has repeatedly played up the uncertainties in climate science, has not quibbled with the inclusion of statements such as "human activities since 1750 have very likely (>90%) exerted a net warming influence on climate", and "further emissions of greenhouse gases would be expected to change the climate of the 21st century".
(11) No one could quibble with the report’s section on geopolitics.
(12) Certainly, some will quibble as to how much blame the federal government should receive for this economic downturn.
(13) But there's a bigger problem with the politics of idleness than quibbling over definitions.
(14) The next question is also on inflation but is a bit quibbly: what if inflation is like, you know, really big?
(15) Oh, there are quibbles, so many quibbles, some unfortunately presentational.
(16) Homewatt.co.uk sells LED bulbs and if you don't think they are suitable, use its seven-day no-quibble returns policy to get your money back.
(17) And for the hopefuls lining up outside the passport office: thou shalt not quibble about freedom of speech.
(18) But the deeper flaw was a complacent assumption that Labour was the moral choice, and that people would realise as much if only their misguided quibbles about public spending could be neutralised.
(19) Some quibbled about the methodology, but, taken at face value, the test yielded good and bad results.
(20) It's an understandable stance, since to quibble over the reasons why 15 million died in the first world war may well look unseemly, particularly for a politician hoping that his party replaces Gove's as government next year, but it doesn't have much of the lion about it.