Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Plausible but fallacious argumentation.
- noun A plausible but misleading or fallacious argument.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The methods of teaching, doctrines, or practices of the Greek sophists.
- noun Fallacious reasoning; reasoning sound in appearance only; especially, reasoning deceptive from intention or passion.
- noun Argument for exercise merely.
- noun Trickery; craft.
- noun Synonyms See def. 2 of fallacy.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete The art or process of reasoning; logic.
- noun The practice of a sophist; fallacious reasoning; reasoning sound in appearance only.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun countable An
argument that seemsplausible , but isfallacious ormisleading , especially onedevised deliberately to be so. - noun uncountable The art of using
deceptive speech or writing. - noun uncountable
Cunning ortrickery .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a deliberately invalid argument displaying ingenuity in reasoning in the hope of deceiving someone
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Several in company checked him from time to time for his bitter reflections instead of arguments, and wished him, if he could to answer my arguments, which he called sophistry, assuring him that until he did, they must receive my opinion and arguments as scriptural and sound reasoning.
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The people who have attained the levers of government power have demonstrated considerable skill in sophistry in order to obtain power that was not intended to be granted.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Help Draft the Federalism Restoration Amendment 2010
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Furthermore, this piece of sophistry from the Catholic League conveniently ignores the fact that there is no statistical correlation between homosexuality and pedophilia (despite what some people may choose to believe) and the majority of adults charged with sexual exploitation of minors are not gay but straight — including many who are married and have children of their own.
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And yet when all the sophistry is boiled down, the theory amounts to living things are complicated.
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There is a kind of sophistry, which is adapted to all ages, and to all countries; I mean that turn of mind which judgeth those vices in which we have no share.
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Unless you've studied both the paper and Behe's response to it why would you fling the label sophistry around?
Behe 2009
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Thoughts on "philosophy otherwise known as sophistry"
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However, it is sheer sophistry, that is, “subtly deceptive reasoning or argumentation,” of which Senator Kerry should be ashamed
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'And do you call it fair to persecute, in this way, at the instigation of a proud aristocrat (he had already learned this slang sophistry), a young man, who is almost a stranger among you?'
Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No 3, September 1863 Devoted to Literature and National Policy Various
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Fire destroys all sophistry, that is deceit; and maintains truth alone, that is gold.
The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — Volume 1 1452-1519 Leonardo da Vinci 1485
sparklya commented on the word sophistry
Specious but fallacious reasoning; employment of arguments which are intentionally deceptive.
May 2, 2008