argumentative

adjective

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ar·gu·men·ta·tive | \ ˌär-gyə-ˈmen-tə-tiv

variants: or less commonly argumentive \ ˌär-gyə-ˈmen-tiv

Definition of argumentative

1 : given to argument : tending to argue : having or showing a tendency to disagree or argue with other people in an angry way : disputatious He became argumentative when confronted with the allegation. an argumentative temperament … had been a pigheaded, argumentative, irascible, and unlikable man …— Colleen McCullough

2 : consisting of or characterized by argument argumentative discourse aired their opinions in an argumentative way

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Examples of argumentative in a Sentence

He became more argumentative during the debate. he's too argumentative to be part of a project in which teamwork is critical

Recent Examples on the Web At the police station, the driver became argumentative and said he had been arrested for OVI in North Royalton a couple months prior and had beaten the case. — John Benson, cleveland, 5 Apr. 2022 Again, this argumentative tack not only falls flat but backfires. — Elie Honig, CNN, 21 Mar. 2022 Prior to arriving at the scene, the officer was told one of the parties was becoming aggressive and argumentative toward the other person. — John Benson, cleveland, 18 Aug. 2021 In the aftermath of ConstitutionDAO’s failed attempt to buy a rare copy of the U.S. Constitution at auction last week, some investors in the decentralized autonomous organization are mad, argumentative, and just plain confused, VICE reports. — Jacob Carpenter, Fortune, 23 Nov. 2021 Perhaps the reporting is overly arduous, or your manager’s manager is quite political, or the culture is a little too argumentative for your liking. — Cate Huston, Quartz, 2 Jan. 2022 At that point, the driver, who admitted to drinking earlier at a hotel, started to become argumentative and uncooperative about being pulled over. — John Benson, cleveland, 27 Oct. 2021 The officer talked to the driver, who was acting argumentative and questioned why he was pulled over. — John Benson, cleveland, 14 Dec. 2021 There’s no ostentatious journal this time, nor is there much that resembles the argumentative essays of the old magazine. — Jake Bittle, The New Republic, 26 Nov. 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'argumentative.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.