elenchus
Americannoun
noun
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refutation of an argument by proving the contrary of its conclusion, esp syllogistically
-
the drawing out of the consequences of a position in order to show them to be contrary to some accepted position
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
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
The elenchus comes soon or late, but it always comes.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 152, April 25, 1917 by Various
An ignoratio elenchi more flagrant—a mistaking of the question more palpable—it is surely not possible to conceive.
From A Theodicy, or, Vindication of the Divine Glory by Bledsoe, Albert Taylor
To prove this is an ignoratio elenchi; what the Sophist undertakes to prove is that Achilles will never overtake it, and he really proves that Achilles passes it between the 111th and 112th yards.
From Logic, Inductive and Deductive by Minto, William
The Tál is injurious to children, and the Mimusops elenchi productive of large families.
From Cultus Arborum Phallic Tree Worship by Anonymous
But others, by exhibiting what I may venture to describe as an ignoratio elenchi, have made it desirable to recall attention to the specific purport of my former letter.
From Letters to "The Times" upon War and Neutrality (1881-1920) by Holland, Thomas Erskine, Sir
The whole of Mr. Mansel’s argument for the inconceivability of the Infinite and of the Absolute is one long ignoratio elenchi.
From The Philosophy of the Conditioned by Mansel, Henry Longueville
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.
