argument

An often angry conversation in which people disagree with each other.

• We had an argument yesterday.
• Their arguments often upset the children.
• Did you hear the argument next door?

How to use it: argument with someone about something (I had an argument with my brother about the car.)

Similar words: quarrel, dispute, row

Opposites: agreement

Common phrases: have an argument, heated argument, argument with someone, start an argument

Reasons used to show that an idea or opinion is right or wrong.

• Your argument makes sense.
• She offered several arguments for keeping the park.
• The report presents a strong argument against the proposal.

How to use it: argument for/against something (She presented an argument against raising prices.); argument that… (His argument that the plan would save money convinced us.)

Similar words: case, reasoning

Common phrases: strong argument, argument for something, argument against something

A value sent to a computer function so it can do its work.

• This function needs one argument.
• The program checks whether the argument is a number.
• You can pass several arguments to this function.

How to use it: pass an argument to a function (Pass the filename as an argument to the function.)

Similar words: input

Common phrases: optional argument, pass an argument, argument value

A word or phrase that fills a role, such as who acts, in a sentence’s meaning.

• The verb requires two arguments.
• In this sentence, the subject is an argument of the verb.
• Students identified the semantic roles of each argument.

Common phrases: verb argument, semantic argument, argument structure

A number or other value used as the input to a mathematical function.

• The argument of the function is zero.
• Different arguments may produce the same result.
• The formula uses a positive number as its argument.

How to use it: argument of a function (The argument of this function is a real number.)

Similar words: input, independent variable

Common phrases: function argument, argument of something