casuist
Americannoun
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an oversubtle or disingenuous reasoner, especially in questions of morality.
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a person who studies and resolves moral problems of judgment or conduct arising in specific situations.
noun
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a person, esp a theologian, who attempts to resolve moral dilemmas by the application of general rules and the careful distinction of special cases
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a person who is oversubtle in his or her analysis of fine distinctions; sophist
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of casuist
1600–10; < Spanish casuista < Latin cāsu ( s ) case 1 + -ista -ist
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Every man is his own best Casuist; and after all, as Ephraim Smooth, in the pleasant comedy of Wild Oats, has it, "there is no harm in a Guinea."
From The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 6 Letters 1821-1842 by Lamb, Mary
He issued an ingenious pamphlet with this title: "The Casuist uncased; in a Dialogue betwixt Richard and Baxter, with a moderator between them, for quietness sake."
From Salem Witchcraft and Cotton Mather A Reply by Upham, Charles Wentworth
Knotty Question Discussed," wherein is proved that under certain circumstances, Wrong is Right, and Right is Wrong, by a Casuist of the Sorbonne.—"
From The Book-Hunter in London Historical and Other Studies of Collectors and Collecting by Roberts, W. (William)
Casuist ten times a week, he made no question of the righteousness of David's wickedness!
From The Elect Lady by MacDonald, George
Now they ply axes and crowbars; Now they prick pins at a tissue; Fine as a skein of the Casuist Escobar Worked on the bone of a lie—To what issue?
From The New Irish Constitution by Morgan, J. H.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
