argue

American  

[ahr-gyoo] / ˈɑr gju /

verb (used without object)

• argues,
  present (3rd person singular)
• argued,
  past participle,  past
• arguing
  present participle

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.

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verb (used with object)

• argues,
  present (3rd person singular)
• argued,
  past participle,  past
• arguing
  present participle

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 British  

/ 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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Usage

What are other ways to say argue? To argue is to present reasons for or against a thing or to contend in oral disagreement. How does argue compare to discuss and debate? Find out on Thesaurus.com. 

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• arguer
  noun
• counterargue
  verb
• overargue
  verb
• reargue
  verb
• well-argued
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• arguing
  present
• argued
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• argue
  simple
• argues
  simple
• have argued
  perfect
• has argued
  perfect
• am arguing
  progressive
• are arguing
  progressive
• is arguing
  progressive
• have been arguing
  perfect progressive
• has been arguing
  perfect progressive

Past

• argued
  simple
• had argued
  perfect
• was arguing
  progressive
• were arguing
  progressive
• had been arguing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will argue
  simple
• will have argued
  perfect
• will be arguing
  progressive
• will have been arguing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of argue

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”)

Explanation

When people argue, they disagree with each other, sometimes loudly. You don’t always have to yell when you argue, though, sometimes you’re just trying to prove a point. If your mom tells you to be home for dinner, don’t argue! When you think of the word argue, you might think of angry people screaming at one another, but that’s only one meaning of this verb. The other is "to present reasons and evidence about a stance or opinion." For example, if you give a speech in support of world peace, you might argue that nations accomplish more when they work together, giving examples to support this idea. When you present reasons why you believe in something, you argue for it.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

argue argues argued arguing

Goldman’s economists argue that currency revaluation would complement domestic reforms by sustaining growth as the trade surplus shrinks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Critics argue the Dodgers have taken the competition out of baseball.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026

Edmonds and Frahm argue that this long-standing puzzle can be explained by adding another ruler to the royal sequence.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026

The United Farm Workers, along with more than a dozen farmworkers, filed a federal lawsuit in California challenging a new Labor Department rule they argue will “undercut and adversely affect” wages paid to U.S. workers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

In the time they had taken to argue about it, the fire had completely surrounded their house.

From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz

Worse, the Navy veteran argues, it suggests that immigration agents plan to snatch children from schools.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026

If dismissing UFOs challenges the democratic equality of experience, Mr. Kirsch argues, then believing in them becomes a “bid to reclaim sovereignty over individual experience.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

There is a school of thought that argues that, without any wins, it is simply too many, irrespective of her previous achievements.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

Zillow argues that making home listings public from the beginning leads to more views, and theoretically, better offers and higher prices for sellers.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026

Baba argues with the driver about the fare.

From "Without Refuge" by Jane Mitchell

The Pentagon also argued that Anthropic's refusal to accept new contract terms raised concerns over what the company could do with its technology.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

Indiana, for example, argued that speech isn’t protected when it is integral to a crime.

From Slate ● Aug. 28, 2026

She then traveled with him until the Indio/Coachella Burns Brothers rest stop where they argued about money, he told investigators.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

He has argued for more than a year that the Fed is too concerned about inflation, breaking with his predecessors’ custom of not commenting on monetary policy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

These spirits told jokes, gossiped, and argued like a mortal family.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

However, the South Korean study published last year challenged it by arguing that Type Ia supernovae did not all reach the same peak brightness as the universe aged.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 29, 2026

Kennedy in particular has been invested in defending the honor of red meat, repeatedly arguing, against standard medical recommendations, that diets high in animal fat are good for you.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026

Mrs Justice Cheema Grubb said she would not rule on the question of terrorism at this stage - with defence counsel arguing that there was no evidence for such a connection.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

It’s easy to be the candidate lobbing criticisms, or even the defense lawyer arguing the facts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

On a $2 billion trade—a trade that would, in the end, have transferred a $2 billion loss from Merrill Lynch to Morgan Stanley—the two traders were arguing over interest payments amounting to $800,000 a year.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Related Words

• appeal
• assert
• claim
• contend
• defend
• demonstrate
• explain
• indicate
• maintain
• plead
• present
• suggest
• testify