Steelman
Etymology
A 21st-century coinage from online rationalist writing, formed as the deliberate opposite of "straw man" by swapping flimsy "straw" for sturdy "steel." To steelman an argument is to reconstruct it at its most defensible.
noun · /STEEL-man/
The strongest, most charitable version of an argument, especially one you disagree with, built up before you respond to it.
What it names
A handle for good-faith debate — reach for it to name the practice of improving your opponent’s case rather than attacking its weakest form.
Example
Before rebutting the proposal, he steelmanned it, laying out the best case for it more clearly than its author had.
Related idea
The direct inverse of the straw man, which distorts an argument into an easy target; steelmanning strengthens it so that any victory is real.