casuistry

[ kazh-oo-uh-stree ]

/ ˈkæʒ u ə stri /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR casuistry ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural cas·u·ist·ries.

specious, deceptive, or oversubtle reasoning, especially in questions of morality; fallacious or dishonest application of general principles; sophistry.

the application of general ethical principles to particular cases of conscience or conduct.

Nearby words

casualty insurance, casualwear, casuarina, casuist, casuistic, casuistry, casus belli, cat, cat and mouse, cat brier, cat burglar

Origin of casuistry

First recorded in 1715–25; casuist + -ry

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for casuistry

The responses were telling in their casuistry, their amorality, their evasiveness.
The Hearing From Hell|Tunku Varadarajan|April 27, 2010|DAILY BEAST
These questions will not be easily dodged; nor will the faithful be placated by casuistry or platitudes.
Leave the Pope Alone|Tunku Varadarajan|April 4, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Casuistry, or even law, would have absolved him easily; an oath taken under duresse is of no avail.
Alfred Tennyson|Andrew Lang
Shall we resort to the method that once brought such disrepute upon the whole business of ethics: Casuistry?
Reconstruction in Philosophy|John Dewey

Their thefts can be justified only by that casuistry which holds stealing the relics of saints for a pious fraud.
The Library and Society|Various
The church was crowded, to hear a man whom a great many there believed capable of almost any form of casuistry and sly dealing.
A Lost Cause|Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull
The rush of thought, the casuistry, the intensity of the preceding poem, is all hushed and silent here.
The Browning Cyclopdia|Edward Berdoe

British Dictionary definitions for casuistry

casuistry

/ (ˈkæzjʊɪstrɪ) /

noun plural -ries

philosophy the resolution of particular moral dilemmas, esp those arising from conflicting general moral rules, by careful distinction of the cases to which these rules apply

reasoning that is specious, misleading, or oversubtle

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012