ARGUMENT

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin ~um, from arguere Date: 14th century an outward sign ; indication , 2. a reason given in proof or rebuttal, discourse intended to persuade, 3. the act or process of arguing ; ~ation , a coherent series of statements leading from a premise to a conclusion, quarrel , disagreement , an abstract or summary especially of a literary work , the subject matter especially of a literary work, 6. one of the independent variables upon whose value that of a function depends, a substantive (as the direct object of a transitive verb) that is required by a predicate in grammar, amplitude 4