Search the Dictionary

x. 40. Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground Luke xiii. 7. The multiplying variety of arguments, especially frivolous ones, . . . but cumbers the memory. Locke.

Augmenting, gaining, or giving force, by successive additions; as, a cumulative argument, i. e., one whose force increases as the statement proceeds. The argument . . . is in very truth not logical and single, but moral and cumulative. Trench.

ething given or admitted; a fact or principle granted; that upon which an inference or an argument is based; -- used chiefly in the plural. Any writer, therefore, who . . . furnishes us with data sufficient to determine the time in which he wrote. Priestley.

to hear or listen; determinedly inattentive; regardless; not to be persuaded as to facts, argument, or exhortation; -- with to; as, deaf to reason. O, that men's ears should be To counsel deaf, but not to flattery! Shak.

To contend for in words or arguments; to strive to maintain by reasoning; to dispute; to contest; to discuss; to argue for and against. A wise council . . . that did debate this business. Shak. Debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself. Prov. xxv. 9.

One who debates; one given to argument; a disputant; a controvertist. Debate where leisure serves with dull debaters. Shak.

to speak pompously, noisily, or theatrically; to make an empty speech; to rehearse trite arguments in debate; to rant. Grenville seized the opportunity to declaim on the repeal of the stamp act. Bancroft.

Characterized by rhetorical display; pretentiously rhetorical; without solid sense or argument; bombastic; noisy; as, a declamatory way or style.

danger or harm from; to protect; to secure against; attack; to maintain against force or argument; to uphold; to guard; as, to defend a town; to defend a cause; to defend character; to defend the absent; -- sometimes followed by from or against; as, to defend one's self from, or against, one's enemies. The lord mayor…

treat with contempt; as, to defy an enemy; to defy the power of a magistrate; to defy the arguments of an opponent; to defy public opinion. I once again Defy thee to the trial of mortal fight. Milton. I defy the enemies of our constitution to show the contrary. Burke.

Weighing facts and arguments with a view a choice or decision; carefully considering the probable consequences of a step; circumspect; slow in determining; -- applied to persons; as, a deliberate judge or counselor. "These deliberate fools." Shak.

; making evident; exhibiting clearly or conclusively. "Demonstrative figures." Dryden. An argument necessary and demonstrative. Hooker.

leasure derivable from the true and beautiful relations of domestic life. H. G. Bell. The argument derivable from the doxologies. J. H. Newman.

ention or purpose as revealed or inferred from the adaptation of means to an end; as, the argument from design.

plan; to scheme; as, to devise an engine, a new mode of writing, a plan of defense, or an argument. To devise curious works. Ex. CCTV. 32. Devising schemes to realize his ambitious views. Bancroft.

Pertaining to dialectics; logical; argumental.

A figure by which arguments are placed in various points of view, and then turned to one point. Smart.

te; to swerve; especially, to turn aside from the main subject of attention, or course of argument, in writing or speaking. Moreover she beginneth to digress in latitude. Holland. In the pursuit of an argument there is hardly room to digress into a particular definition as often as a man varies the signification of any…

An argument which presents an antagonist with two or more alternatives, but is equally conclusive against him, whichever alternative he chooses.

Reasoning; proceeding from one ground to another, as in reasoning; argumentative. Reason is her being, Discursive or intuitive. Milton. -- Dis*cur"sive*ly, adv. -- Dis*cur"sive*ness, n.