Argumentation, n.
Etymology: [L. argumentatio, from argumentari: cf. F. argumentation.]
1. The act of forming reasons, making inductions, drawing conclusions, and applying them to the case in discussion; the operation of inferring propositions, not known or admitted as true, from facts or principles known, admitted, or proved to be true. Which manner of argumentation, how false and naught it is, . . . every man that hath with perceiveth. Tyndale.
2. Debate; discussion.
Syn. -- Reasoning; discussion; controversy. See Reasoning.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for argumentation; he lists it under reasoning.
Where he writes about it:
Argumentation and debate, in the ordinary use of the words, suppose two parties alleging reasons for and against a proposition; the same idea appears figuratively when we speak of a debate or an argument with oneself, or of a debate between reason and conscience. — from reasoning
Argument or argumentation was formerly used of deductive reasoning only. — from reasoning
With the rise of the inductive philosophy these words have come to be applied to inductive processes also; but while reasoning may be informal or even (as far as tracing its processes is concerned) unconscious, argument and argumentation strictly imply logical form. — from reasoning
Antonyms
none given