Other forms: argued, argues, arguing
To argue is to disagree with someone out loud. Two drivers arguing over a dented bumper, a couple arguing on the train and pretending they aren't, your parents arguing about money in the kitchen with the door shut.
Argue has a calm face as well: to argue a case is to lay out the reasons for it, and a lawyer arguing in court is not raising their voice at all. It takes with before the person and about or over before the thing — she argued with her brother about the bill. You argue for or against a plan, and you argue that something is true. What you cannot do is argue someone; there is no object without a preposition in front of it. The noun is an argument, which is both a row and a chain of reasons, and arguably means as far as anyone can show.
1verbargueTo disagree with someone in a loud or angry way.~11%
“They argue about the same thing every Sunday: whose turn it is to drive.”
2verbcontendTo give reasons for or against something in order to persuade people.~89%
“The lawyer will argue that the contract was never signed.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 9 sentences found in the wild and placed 9 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
argue is a way of speaking.
Also accepted in games: quarrel
Argue came through Old French arguer from Latin arguere, which meant to declare, to show, to prove, to make clear — and also to accuse. The shouting is the late arrival. The older idea was laying something out so plainly that nobody could miss it, and that sense survives whenever you argue a case rather than argue with a neighbour.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂erǵ-
Latin
arguō
Old French
arguer
Middle English
arguen
English, today
argue
From Middle English arguen, from Old French arguer, from Latin arguō. From Middle English arguen, from Old French arguer, from Latin arguere (“to declare, show, prove, make clear, reprove, accuse”), q.v. for more. Displaced native flītan and reċċan.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA