sophist

American  

[sof-ist] / ˈsɒf ɪst /

noun

1. (often initial capital letter)

   1. any of a class of professional teachers in ancient Greece who gave instruction in various fields, as in general culture, rhetoric, politics, or disputation.

   2. a person belonging to this class at a later period who, while professing to teach skill in reasoning, concerned himself with ingenuity and specious effectiveness rather than soundness of argument.

2. a person who reasons adroitly and speciously rather than soundly.

3. a philosopher.

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sophist British  

/ ˈsɒfɪst /

noun

1. (often capital) one of the pre-Socratic philosophers who were itinerant professional teachers of oratory and argument and who were prepared to enter into debate on any matter however specious

2. a person who uses clever or quibbling arguments that are fundamentally unsound

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Other Word Forms

• antisophist noun

Etymology

Origin of sophist

1535–45; < Latin sophista < Greek sophistḗs sage, derivative of sophízesthai

Example Sentences

Naomi Oreskes, a Harvard historian, said the positions held by the company and Mr. Tillerson still constitute climate denial, but in a “clever and sophist icated” form.

From New York Times • Dec. 28, 2016

This supposed techno-libertarian renegade, this poster child for the melding of microchips and humanist values, had become just another billionaire sophist.

From Slate • Oct. 13, 2011

How does he listen to this sophist and then earnestly ask if he can, “with right and conscience,” make a claim to the French throne?

From New York Times • Aug. 17, 2011

He was ultimately a sophist, who liked to convince himself of the rightness of views that were indefensible.

From The Guardian • Jan. 23, 2011

He often fought the urge to raise his own voice from behind the kitchen door and tell her to shut up, especially when she called Master a sophist.

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Related Words

• bigot
• charlatan
• crook
• impostor
• phony
• trickster