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Synonyms

elenchus

American  
[ih-leng-kuhs] / ɪˈlɛŋ kəs /

noun

plural

elenchi

  1. a logical refutation; an argument that refutes another argument by proving the contrary of its conclusion.

elenchus British  
/ ɪˈlɛŋkəs /

noun

  1. refutation of an argument by proving the contrary of its conclusion, esp syllogistically

  2. the drawing out of the consequences of a position in order to show them to be contrary to some accepted position

"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

Etymology

Origin of elenchus

1655–65; < Latin < Greek élenchos refutation

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.

It is the leaven working in the Sophists with their subtle rhetoric, in Socrates with his negating elenchus, in Plato with his confounding dialectic.

From Homer's Odyssey A Commentary by Snider, Denton Jaques

Justiti� mensura, atque ambitionis elenchus,  Regum arx, pax populo, si doceatur, erit.”

From Calamities and Quarrels of Authors by Disraeli, Isaac

The elenchus comes soon or late, but it always comes.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 152, April 25, 1917 by Various

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.