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Motive vs Argument - What's the difference?

motive | argument |

As a verb motive

is .

As a noun argument is

proof, reason, point.

motive

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (obsolete) An idea or communication that makes one want to act, especially from spiritual sources; a divine prompting.
  • *, III.2.1.ii:
  • *:there's something in a woman beyond all human delight; a magnetic virtue, a charming quality, an occult and powerful motive .
  • An incentive to act in a particular way; a reason or emotion that makes one want to do something; anything that prompts a choice of action.
  • * 1947 , (Malcolm Lowry), Under the Volcano :
  • Many of them at first seemed kind to him, but it turned out their motives were not entirely altruistic.
  • (obsolete, rare) A limb or other bodily organ that can move.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • (legal) Something which causes someone to want to commit a crime; a reason for criminal behaviour.
  • What would his motive be for burning down the cottage?
    No-one could understand why she had hidden the shovel; her motives were obscure at best.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1931, author=
  • , chapter=10/6, title= Death Walks in Eastrepps , passage=“Why should Eldridge commit murder?
  • (architecture, fine arts) A motif.
  • (music) A motif; a theme or subject, especially one that is central to the work or often repeated.
  • If you listen carefully, you can hear the flutes mimicking the cello motive .

    Synonyms

    * (incentive ) motivation * (creative works ) motif

    Verb

  • To prompt or incite by a motive or motives; to move.
  • Synonyms

    * motivate

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Causing motion; having power to move, or tending to move; as, a motive argument; motive power.
  • * 1658 , Sir Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus , Folio Society 2007, p. 195:
  • In the motive parts of animals may be discovered mutuall proportions; not only in those of Quadrupeds, but in the thigh-bone, legge, foot-bone, and claws of Birds.
  • Relating to motion and/or to its cause
  • Synonyms

    * moving * (relating to motion) motional

    Anagrams

    * ----

    argument

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fact or statement used to support a proposition; a reason.
  • * Ray
  • There is no more palpable and convincing argument of the existence of a Deity.
  • A verbal dispute; a quarrel.
  • A process of reasoning.
  • * John Locke
  • The argument is not about things, but names.
  • (philosophy, logic) A series of propositions organized so that the final proposition is a conclusion which is intended to follow logically from the preceding propositions, which function as premises.
  • *
  • (mathematics) The independent variable of a function.
  • (programming) A value, or reference to a value, passed to a function.
  • * {{quote-web, date = 2011-07-20
  • , author = Edwin Mares , title = Propositional Functions , site = The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , url = http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2011/entries/propositional-function , accessdate = 2012-07-15 }}
    In ‘The Critic of Arguments’ (1892), Peirce adopts a notion that is even closer to that of a propositional function. There he develops the concept of the ‘rhema’. He says the rhema is like a relative term, but it is not a term. It contains a copula, that is, when joined to the correct number of arguments it produces an assertion. For example, ‘__ is bought by __ from __ for __’ is a four-place rhema. Applying it to four objects a'', ''b'', ''c'', and ''d'' produces the assertion that ''a'' is bought by ''b'' from ''c'' for ''d (ibid. 420).
    Parameters are like labeled fillable blanks used to define a function whereas arguments are passed to a function when calling it, filling in those blanks.
  • (programming) A parameter in a function definition; an actual parameter, as opposed to a formal parameter.
  • (linguistics) Any of the phrases that bears a syntactic connection to the verb of a clause.
  • *
  • In numerous works over the past two decades, beginning with the pioneering work of Gruber (1965), Fillmore (1968a), and Jackendoff (1972), it has been argued that each Argument' (i.e. Subject or Complement) of a Predicate bears a particular ''thematic role'' (alias ''theta-role'', or ''θ-role'' to its Predicate), and that the set of ''thematic functions'' which ' Arguments can fulfil are drawn from a highly restricted, finite, universal set.
  • (astronomy) The quantity on which another quantity in a table depends.
  • The altitude is the argument of the refraction.
  • The subject matter of a discourse, writing, or artistic representation; theme or topic; also, an abstract or summary, as of the contents of a book, chapter, poem.
  • * Shakespeare
  • You and love are still my argument .
  • * Jeffrey
  • the abstract or argument of the piece
  • * Milton
  • [shields] with boastful argument portrayed
  • Matter for question; business in hand.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Sheathed their swords for lack of argument .

    Usage notes

    * (formal parameter in a function definition) Some authors regard use of "argument" to mean "formal parameter" to be imprecise, preferring that argument'' refers only to the value that is used to instantiate the ''parameter'' at runtime, while ''parameter refers only to the name in the function definition that will be instantiated.

    Synonyms

    * (programming value) actual argument * See also * See also

    Meronyms

    * (logic) proposition, premise, conclusion

    Derived terms

    * ad hominem argument * argumentable * argumental * argumentation * argumentative * argumentatively * argumentativeness * argument form * argument from design * argumentive * argumentize * argumentless * cosmological argument * etymological argument * ontological argument * teleological argument