casuistry

American  

[kazh-oo-uh-stree] / ˈkæʒ u ə stri /

noun

• casuistries
  plural

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

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

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casuistry British  

/ ˈkæzjʊɪstrɪ /

noun

1. 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

2. reasoning that is specious, misleading, or oversubtle

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• casuistries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of casuistry

First recorded in 1715–25; casuist + -ry

Explanation

Casuistry is argumentation that is suspect and sneaky. Politicians, lawyers, and car salesmen who make dubious arguments full of holes are guilty of casuistry. Save this word for when you want to put down somebody else's line of reasoning: it refers to subtle but specious argumentation. It was formed from casuist (along the lines of sophistry and foolery), which can mean one who engages in such reasoning, though it originally meant someone who resolves doubtful cases by the application of principles. Casuistry is used to bamboozle people, so steer clear of those who practice it!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

casuistry casuistries

This casuistry didn’t save him from a painful trial before a “denazification” court after the war.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026

His decision for the court, handed down on Wednesday, is an incoherent mess of contradiction and casuistry, a travesty of legal writing that injects immense, gratuitous confusion into the law of equal protection.

From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2025

Hill's casuistry is all too common in memoirs written by or for statesmen seeking to sanitize their own blunders and lies.

From Salon ● May 8, 2021

But, given that the case is about the casuistry of what it means to fill out a form, Bush might be more on the side of Kafka on this one.

From The New Yorker ● Jun. 15, 2015

And with malicious irony he said: "And I also learnt there a little of that spirit of Jesuit casuistry, which is a force not to be despised in the struggle with other people."

From Paul Gauguin, His Life and Art by John Gould Fletcher

It happened in Solnechnogorsk, 35 miles from Moscow and a world away from the casuistries of capitalism.

From Time Magazine Archive

It lifted him over anxieties and casuistries concerning loyalty.

From The Egoist by George Meredith

Nay, the nicer casuistries of this principle had been latterly discussed.

From Theological Essays and Other Papers — Volume 1 by Thomas De Quincey

With these may be named that other electric little poem, Which? a study in love's casuistries, reminding one slightly of the finest of all Browning's studies in that kind, Adam, Lilith, and Eve.

From An Introduction to the Study of Browning by Arthur Symons

He meant to draw attention to His sweeping aside of the Rabbinical casuistries of the law of the Sabbath.

From Expositions of Holy Scripture St. John Chapters I to XIV by Alexander Maclaren