argument

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
argument/ˈɑːɡjumənt/

▶noun

• 1 a heated exchange of conflicting views.

• 2 a set of reasons given in support of something.

• 3 Mathematics & Logic an independent variable associated with a function or proposition and determining its value, e.g. x in y = F(x).

• 4 Linguistics any of the noun phrases in a clause that are related directly to the verb.

• 5 archaic a summary of the subject matter of a book.

– origin ME: via OFr. from L. argumentum, from arguere ‘make clear, prove, accuse’.