LSAT Vocabulary: Argument

Words for claims, reasons, and evidence, each in a short sentence.

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The opening claim

In the hearing room, counsel opened with an assertion that the posted clinic rule already settled the fee dispute.

  1. 1.As used in the text, what does the word "assertion" most nearly mean?

A reason in the margin

In the law library, the librarian marked one premise in the margin: a fine cannot stand if the notice was never posted.

  1. 2.As used in the text, what does the word "premise" most nearly mean?

What the counts support

Once the sidewalk counts were in, the neighborhood council stated its conclusion that the crosswalk, not the stop sign, had to change.

  1. 3.As used in the text, what does the word "conclusion" most nearly mean?

Reading two results

From two normal readings, the clinician drew an inference that the morning dose had been taken.

  1. 4.As used in the text, what does the word "inference" most nearly mean?

The link beside the brief

At the small firm, the associate wrote the warrant beside the argument: a signed delivery log supports treating the notice as received.

  1. 5.As used in the text, what does the word "warrant" most nearly mean?

Answering the objection

Her rebuttal in the hearing room took the objection point by point and showed why the late letter still counted.

  1. 6.As used in the text, what does the word "rebuttal" most nearly mean?

Granting the edition

His concession in the law library admitted that the older edition defined the term more broadly than the brief had claimed.

  1. 7.As used in the text, what does the word "concession" most nearly mean?

A limit on the bench rule

The neighborhood council approved the bench rule with a caveat that it would not cover the park's north edge.

  1. 8.As used in the text, what does the word "caveat" most nearly mean?

The afternoon results

The afternoon lab pages corroborate the clinic's morning note that the swelling had started to recede.

  1. 9.As used in the text, what does the word "corroborate" most nearly mean?

The signed receipt

At the small firm, the partner used the signed receipt to refute the claim that nobody received the draft.

  1. 10.As used in the text, what does the word "refute" most nearly mean?

Narrowing the hours

She paused in the hearing room to qualify her statement, limiting it to weekday hours and leaving weekends out.

  1. 11.As used in the text, what does the word "qualify" most nearly mean?

The unstated step

The law library brief rested on an assumption, never written down, that every borrower had seen the posted rule.

  1. 12.As used in the text, what does the word "assumption" most nearly mean?

Sundays and weekdays

A Sunday-only ban proposed at the neighborhood council carries the implication that weekday use of leaf blowers would still be allowed.

  1. 13.As used in the text, what does the word "implication" most nearly mean?

One patient breaks the rule

One clinic patient who worsened on the lower dose stood as a counterexample to the claim that the dose was always enough.

  1. 14.As used in the text, what does the word "counterexample" most nearly mean?

The unsigned email

At the small firm, she offered an analogy that compared the unsigned email to a letter that never left the front desk.

  1. 15.As used in the text, what does the word "analogy" most nearly mean?

One story, whole block

The hearing panel called it a fallacy to treat one neighbor's story as proof about the whole block.

  1. 16.As used in the text, what does the word "fallacy" most nearly mean?

Two senses of public

In the law library, the editor marked an equivocation, using public for city-owned in one sentence and for merely visible in the next.

  1. 17.As used in the text, what does the word "equivocation" most nearly mean?

Assuming the fee is fair

Residents told the neighborhood council the flier was circular because it assumed the fee was fair in order to prove the fee was fair.

  1. 18.As used in the text, what does the word "circular" most nearly mean?

From the rule to this chart

The clinic nurse used deduction from the rule that two high readings require a recheck, and scheduled one for this patient.

  1. 19.As used in the text, what does the word "deduction" most nearly mean?

Twelve files, one claim

At the small firm, induction from twelve similar files supported a general claim that unsigned drafts are the ones usually returned.

  1. 20.As used in the text, what does the word "induction" most nearly mean?

Three shops, every storefront

In the hearing room, his generalization from three shops was that every storefront on the avenue had the same lease problem.

  1. 21.As used in the text, what does the word "generalization" most nearly mean?

Three lines on a card

On a law library card she set out a syllogism: posted rules bind borrowers, this rule was posted, and so this rule binds them.

  1. 22.As used in the text, what does the word "syllogism" most nearly mean?

Whether the ending follows

Neighborhood council members accepted the validity of the reasoning because the proposed change followed from the counts they had already accepted.

  1. 23.As used in the text, what does the word "validity" most nearly mean?

Accurate and following

The clinic board accepted the soundness of the dosing argument because the readings were accurate and the recommendation followed from those readings.

  1. 24.As used in the text, what does the word "soundness" most nearly mean?

Reasons a client can check

The client praised the small firm's memo for its cogency, since each recommendation rested on a document someone could check.

  1. 25.As used in the text, what does the word "cogency" most nearly mean?

Neat until compared

In the hearing room, the excuse sounded specious, neat on paper until the compared entries made the account collapse.

  1. 26.As used in the text, what does the word "specious" most nearly mean?

One thin footnote

Her connection in the law library was tenuous, resting on a footnote that never mentioned this kind of notice.

  1. 27.As used in the text, what does the word "tenuous" most nearly mean?

A party and a park

A neighborhood council member called the speech fallacious because one loud party does not show that the park should close.

  1. 28.As used in the text, what does the word "fallacious" most nearly mean?

Was the second test needed

The contention before the clinic review group was whether a second test had been necessary.

  1. 29.As used in the text, what does the word "contention" most nearly mean?

The memo's main line

The thesis of the small firm's memo was that the client should answer the letter rather than ask for a delay.

  1. 30.As used in the text, what does the word "thesis" most nearly mean?

Where the signature might be

Counsel in the hearing room offered a hypothesis that the missing signature was on the clinic copy, and asked for that file.

  1. 31.As used in the text, what does the word "hypothesis" most nearly mean?

A starting point in the catalog

The law library outline began with a postulate that a rule printed in the catalog counts as notice to readers.

  1. 32.As used in the text, what does the word "postulate" most nearly mean?

Apartments left out

Her objection at the neighborhood council was that the survey left out the apartments east of the library.

  1. 33.As used in the text, what does the word "objection" most nearly mean?

The longer form

The clinic director's rejoinder answered the criticism by noting that the longer form caught an allergy the old card missed.

  1. 34.As used in the text, what does the word "rejoinder" most nearly mean?

Received is not accepted

The junior at the small firm drafted a counterargument that receiving the email did not amount to accepting the terms.

  1. 35.As used in the text, what does the word "counterargument" most nearly mean?

Nothing about the fee

His retort in the hearing room snapped back that the letter said nothing about the fee.

  1. 36.As used in the text, what does the word "retort" most nearly mean?

A slip against the editor

She filed a dissent in the law library, stating that the cited passage did not support the editor's claim.

  1. 37.As used in the text, what does the word "dissent" most nearly mean?

The figures match

Two neighborhood council members concur with the chair that the petition figures match the sign-in sheets.

  1. 38.As used in the text, what does the word "concur" most nearly mean?

The reading and the note

The clinic's charge nurse did concede that the first reading was recorded differently from what the note described.

  1. 39.As used in the text, what does the word "concede" most nearly mean?

The extra page

The associate at the small firm rose to dispute the claim that the client had approved the extra page.

  1. 40.As used in the text, what does the word "dispute" most nearly mean?

A gap in the log

A gap in the hearing-room log would undermine the claim that every notice went out in the same batch.

  1. 41.As used in the text, what does the word "undermine" most nearly mean?

The older edition

The same sentence in an older law library edition would bolster her claim that the definition had stayed the same.

  1. 42.As used in the text, what does the word "bolster" most nearly mean?

Photos of the corner

Photos shown to the neighborhood council substantiate the claim that the drain, not the new curb, caused the pooling.

  1. 43.As used in the text, what does the word "substantiate" most nearly mean?

A blank consent line

Two clinic nurses attest that the consent line was blank when the form reached the front desk.

  1. 44.As used in the text, what does the word "attest" most nearly mean?

What the caller said

The small firm's memo treated the remark as hearsay because the clerk was only repeating what a caller had said.

  1. 45.As used in the text, what does the word "hearsay" most nearly mean?

A stamp and no witness

In the hearing room, the canceled stamp was only circumstantial, suggesting the letter had been mailed though no one swore to sending it.

  1. 46.As used in the text, what does the word "circumstantial" most nearly mean?

The checkout slip

That law library checkout slip is probative on whether the reader had the volume the note concerns.

  1. 47.As used in the text, what does the word "probative" most nearly mean?

Benches, not bake sales

The neighborhood council chair kept comments relevant to the bench proposal and set aside the remarks about the bake sale.

  1. 48.As used in the text, what does the word "relevant" most nearly mean?

The allergy box

Whether the allergy box was checked is material at the clinic, because that fact could change the dosing decision.

  1. 49.As used in the text, what does the word "material" most nearly mean?

A fact both sides accept

The stipulation at the small firm let both sides treat the delivery date as given and turn to the approval wording.

  1. 50.As used in the text, what does the word "stipulation" most nearly mean?

Claimed, not shown

In the hearing room, the allegation of a backdated notice remained unproved, with no stamp or log behind it.

  1. 51.As used in the text, what does the word "allegation" most nearly mean?

Unless a search shows otherwise

A return stamp in the law library supports a presumption that the book is on the shelf unless a search shows otherwise.

  1. 52.As used in the text, what does the word "presumption" most nearly mean?

Who must bring the counts

At the neighborhood council, the burden rested on the group seeking the street closure, which had to supply the traffic counts.

  1. 53.As used in the text, what does the word "burden" most nearly mean?

Above the posted line

Under the clinic's own rule, a reading above the posted line would entail a same-day recheck.

  1. 54.As used in the text, what does the word "entail" most nearly mean?

The opposite in the reply

At the small firm, the reply does contradict the opening claim by stating the opposite about whether the draft was approved.

  1. 55.As used in the text, what does the word "contradict" most nearly mean?

Note and sign-in sheet

In the hearing room, the guard's note is consistent with the sign-in sheet because both place the packet at the front desk.

  1. 56.As used in the text, what does the word "consistent" most nearly mean?

Ink ban and pen marks

A law library ban on all ink is incompatible with a guide that tells readers to mark the copies in pen.

  1. 57.As used in the text, what does the word "incompatible" most nearly mean?

The broken latch

At the neighborhood council, the broken-latch account was plausible because it explained an open gate without anyone unlocking it.

  1. 58.As used in the text, what does the word "plausible" most nearly mean?

Two checks of the wristband

A mislabel story is implausible at the clinic once two staff members have checked the name against the wristband.

  1. 59.As used in the text, what does the word "implausible" most nearly mean?

Receipt, log, and slip

The courier's account is credible at the small firm because the receipt, the desk log, and the signed slip all match it.

  1. 60.As used in the text, what does the word "credible" most nearly mean?

Form and photo

The hearing panel treated the mileage figure as dubious because the form and the odometer photo did not match.

  1. 61.As used in the text, what does the word "dubious" most nearly mean?

Every sheet still there

The law library charge of missing pages was unfounded because every sheet listed in the index was still bound in.

  1. 62.As used in the text, what does the word "unfounded" most nearly mean?

No motion, no count

Talk of a secret vote was groundless at the neighborhood council, and nobody could point to a motion, a count, or a minute entry.

  1. 63.As used in the text, what does the word "groundless" most nearly mean?

Protocol and result

Ordering a second test was warranted at the clinic once the first result and the written protocol both pointed that way.

  1. 64.As used in the text, what does the word "warranted" most nearly mean?

No approval in the letters

The extra-fee accusation was unwarranted at the small firm because the letters never showed an approval.

  1. 65.As used in the text, what does the word "unwarranted" most nearly mean?

Who received the notice

The hearing chair allowed the question as pertinent because it asked who had received the notice, the issue being decided.

  1. 66.As used in the text, what does the word "pertinent" most nearly mean?

Binding styles aside

A law library paragraph on binding styles is extraneous to whether the definition changed between editions.

  1. 67.As used in the text, what does the word "extraneous" most nearly mean?

Praise for the mural

Praise for the mural was tangential at the neighborhood council, touching beautification without ever addressing the bench vote.

  1. 68.As used in the text, what does the word "tangential" most nearly mean?

Needed for the dose

The allergy note is germane at the clinic because the dosing question cannot be decided without it.

  1. 69.As used in the text, what does the word "germane" most nearly mean?

Look, not a reason

The style sheet was ancillary at the small firm, useful for the look of the memo but not a reason for the client to sign.

  1. 70.As used in the text, what does the word "ancillary" most nearly mean?

The sealed envelope

In the hearing room, whether the envelope was sealed is subsidiary, a lesser claim depending on the larger one that the letter was complete.

  1. 71.As used in the text, what does the word "subsidiary" most nearly mean?

Notice above the examples

In the law library outline, an overarching claim about notice by posting sat above every smaller example.

  1. 72.As used in the text, what does the word "overarching" most nearly mean?

Every food truck

The neighborhood council speaker was categorical, saying every food truck needed the permit and naming no exception.

  1. 73.As used in the text, what does the word "categorical" most nearly mean?

Adults only

The clinic advice was qualified, limited to adult patients and not offered for the pediatric clinic next door.

  1. 74.As used in the text, what does the word "qualified" most nearly mean?

Complete, no exception

The small firm's letter made an absolute claim that the draft was complete, with no condition and no exception.

  1. 75.As used in the text, what does the word "absolute" most nearly mean?

Until the original log

The hearing-room finding is provisional and will be kept only until the original log can be compared with the copy.

  1. 76.As used in the text, what does the word "provisional" most nearly mean?

A possible sense

Her reading in the law library stayed tentative, offered as a possible sense of the passage until another edition could be checked.

  1. 77.As used in the text, what does the word "tentative" most nearly mean?

Who was present

The sign-in sheets were conclusive for the neighborhood council, settling who had been present for the vote.

  1. 78.As used in the text, what does the word "conclusive" most nearly mean?

A blurry scan

The clinic's blurry scan was inconclusive, and no one treated it as settling the question of a fracture.

  1. 79.As used in the text, what does the word "inconclusive" most nearly mean?

Praise or acceptance

The approval clause at the small firm is ambiguous because it can be read as praise for the writing or as acceptance of the terms.

  1. 80.As used in the text, what does the word "ambiguous" most nearly mean?

Handed over, one sense

The hearing-room answer was unequivocal: the notice had been handed to the resident, and the words allowed no second meaning.

  1. 81.As used in the text, what does the word "unequivocal" most nearly mean?

Food in the reading room

The law library rule is explicit, stating in its first sentence that food is not allowed in the reading room.

  1. 82.As used in the text, what does the word "explicit" most nearly mean?

A duty never written

A duty to publish the agenda was implicit in the neighborhood council's promise of an open meeting, though no sentence said so.

  1. 83.As used in the text, what does the word "implicit" most nearly mean?

Who speaks first

It was tacit at the clinic that the on-call nurse would speak first, understood by the staff and never put into words.

  1. 84.As used in the text, what does the word "tacit" most nearly mean?

Declined in plain words

The refusal was overt in the small firm's letter, which stated in plain words that the extra work was declined.

  1. 85.As used in the text, what does the word "overt" most nearly mean?

Copy versus terms

In the hearing room, the nuance between receiving a copy and agreeing to its terms changed which side prevailed.

  1. 86.As used in the text, what does the word "nuance" most nearly mean?

Shelf or borrower

She drew a distinction in the law library between a volume being on the shelf and a reader having borrowed it.

  1. 87.As used in the text, what does the word "distinction" most nearly mean?

Close the park or not

The neighborhood council flier forced a dichotomy, as if the block had to close the park or accept the noise unchanged.

  1. 88.As used in the text, what does the word "dichotomy" most nearly mean?

Fasted and breakfast

The clinic note contained a paradox, saying the patient had fasted and also that breakfast was recorded.

  1. 89.As used in the text, what does the word "paradox" most nearly mean?

Delivery and approval

At the small firm, she tried to reconcile the two memos by showing that one concerned delivery and the other concerned approval.

  1. 90.As used in the text, what does the word "reconcile" most nearly mean?

Two accounts, one story

His synthesis in the hearing room joined the resident's account and the clinic log by treating them as parts of one account.

  1. 91.As used in the text, what does the word "synthesis" most nearly mean?

Posted or never posted

In the law library margin she wrote the antithesis: not that the rule was posted, but that it was never posted at all.

  1. 92.As used in the text, what does the word "antithesis" most nearly mean?

The festival story

The festival anecdote was a digression at the neighborhood council and left the permit question untouched.

  1. 93.As used in the text, what does the word "digression" most nearly mean?

A ban that was not a ban

The clinic criticism offered a caricature of the protocol, painting it as a ban on all rechecks when it limited only one.

  1. 94.As used in the text, what does the word "caricature" most nearly mean?

The letterhead

Who chose the letterhead is an irrelevancy at the small firm when the question is whether the client received the draft.

  1. 95.As used in the text, what does the word "irrelevancy" most nearly mean?

Who filled in the log

In the hearing room, they tried to impugn the log by showing the entries were made by someone not on duty.

  1. 96.As used in the text, what does the word "impugn" most nearly mean?

The plain sentence

Nothing in the law library footnotes could gainsay the plain sentence that the rule covers every carrel.

  1. 97.As used in the text, what does the word "gainsay" most nearly mean?

Too narrow for a bench

Several residents stood at the neighborhood council to controvert the claim that the alley was too narrow for a bench.

  1. 98.As used in the text, what does the word "controvert" most nearly mean?

The sample and the lab

The labeled desk photo would confute the clinic claim that the sample never reached the lab.

  1. 99.As used in the text, what does the word "confute" most nearly mean?

A mismatched total

A mismatched total would discredit the small firm's spreadsheet as evidence of what the client approved.

  1. 100.As used in the text, what does the word "discredit" most nearly mean?

On the received list

The original log in the hearing room would vindicate the resident's claim that the packet was on the received list.

  1. 101.As used in the text, what does the word "vindicate" most nearly mean?

A footnote that limits

The law library lecturer chose to propound a reading in which the footnote limits the rule instead of widening it.

  1. 102.As used in the text, what does the word "propound" most nearly mean?

Start from the count

The neighborhood council chair asked the group to posit an accurate traffic count and then to reason from that claim.

  1. 103.As used in the text, what does the word "posit" most nearly mean?

The signed line

On the clinic form, the physician did aver that the consent conversation happened and pointed to the signed line.

  1. 104.As used in the text, what does the word "aver" most nearly mean?

The courier receipt

At the small firm, they proffer the courier receipt as a reason to treat the draft as delivered.

  1. 105.As used in the text, what does the word "proffer" most nearly mean?

The sign-in log

Counsel in the hearing room will adduce the sign-in log as evidence that the witness was present.

  1. 106.As used in the text, what does the word "adduce" most nearly mean?

The catalog's first page

To support the fine, the law library guide will invoke the posting rule printed on the catalog's first page.

  1. 107.As used in the text, what does the word "invoke" most nearly mean?

The bench ruling

Neighborhood council members cited the bench ruling as a precedent for requiring the same notice on this permit.

  1. 108.As used in the text, what does the word "precedent" most nearly mean?