diff --git a/Doc/glossary.rst b/Doc/glossary.rst
--- a/Doc/glossary.rst
+++ b/Doc/glossary.rst
@@ -40,16 +40,14 @@
       ABCs with the :mod:`abc` module.
 
    argument
-      A value passed to a function or method, assigned to a named local
-      variable in the function body.  A function or method may have both
-      positional arguments and keyword arguments in its definition.
-      Positional and keyword arguments may be variable-length: ``*`` accepts
-      or passes (if in the function definition or call) several positional
-      arguments in a list, while ``**`` does the same for keyword arguments
-      in a dictionary.
-
-      Any expression may be used within the argument list, and the evaluated
-      value is passed to the local variable.
+      A value passed to a :term:`function` (or method) and assigned to a named
+      local variable in the function body.  An argument value can be passed
+      either as a :term:`positional <positional argument>` or :term:`keyword
+      argument`.  Syntactically, any expression can be used within an argument
+      list; the evaluated value is passed to the local variable.  See the
+      :ref:`calls` section and :ref:`inspect-signature-object` for the
+      rules governing assignment to local variables.  Also see the
+      :term:`parameter` glossary entry and :pep:`362`.
 
    attribute
       A value associated with an object which is referenced by name using
@@ -402,10 +400,10 @@
       <sortinghowto>` for examples of how to create and use key functions.
 
    keyword argument
-      Arguments which are preceded with a ``variable_name=`` in the call.
-      The variable name designates the local name in the function to which the
-      value is assigned.  ``**`` is used to accept or pass a dictionary of
-      keyword arguments.  See :term:`argument`.
+      An :term:`argument` preceded by ``variable_name=`` in the call syntax or
+      passed as a value in a dictionary preceded by ``**``.  If passed as a
+      dictionary value, the dictionary key is used as the variable name.
+      See also :term:`argument`.
 
    lambda
       An anonymous inline function consisting of a single :term:`expression`
@@ -548,6 +546,23 @@
       subpackages.  Technically, a package is a Python module with an
       ``__path__`` attribute.
 
+   parameter
+      A named entity in a :term:`function` (or method) signature that
+      corresponds to a value or collection of values that the function can
+      accept.  A parameter can be one of five types: positional-or-keyword (aka
+      standard), keyword-only, positional-only, var-positional, and
+      var-keyword.  For example, the following function signature has three
+      parameters::
+
+         def func(object, *, name=None, **kwargs):
+
+      ``object`` is a standard parameter, ``name`` is keyword-only, and
+      ``**kwargs`` is var-keyword.  Python has no explicit syntax for
+      defining positional-only parameters, even though many built-in functions
+      have them, for example.  See also the :term:`argument` glossary entry,
+      the :class:`inspect.Parameter` class, the :ref:`function` section, and
+      :pep:`362`.
+
    path entry
       A single location on the :term:`import path` which the :term:`path
       based finder` consults to find modules for importing.
@@ -571,10 +586,10 @@
       that contribute to a namespace package, as defined in :pep:`420`.
 
    positional argument
-      The arguments assigned to local names inside a function or method,
-      determined by the order in which they were given in the call.  ``*`` is
-      used to either accept multiple positional arguments (when in the
-      definition), or pass several arguments as a list to a function.  See
+      An :term:`argument` that is not a :term:`keyword argument`.  Positional
+      arguments are assigned to local names inside a function according to the
+      order in which they are given in the call.  An :term:`iterable` preceded
+      by ``*`` is used to pass a sequence of positional arguments.  See also
       :term:`argument`.
 
    provisional package