argue vs pettifog

argue and pettifog both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
argue	No	No	Yes	No
pettifog	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, pettifog is a hyponym of argue; that is, pettifog is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than argue:

argue (verb)	pettifog (verb)
have an argument about something	argue over petty things
give evidence of
present reasons and arguments