sophister
Americannoun
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a specious, unsound, or fallacious reasoner.
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Chiefly British. (especially formerly) a second or third year student at a university.
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Obsolete. an ancient Greek sophist.
noun
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(esp formerly) a second-year undergraduate at certain British universities
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rare another word for sophist
Etymology
Origin of sophister
1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French sophistre < Latin sophista. See sophist
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.
Herein the divell plays the double sophister; the sorcerer with sorcerers.
From Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 3 by Disraeli, Isaac
The father of lies is a cunning sophister, and knoweth, how to shake their grounds and cast all loose.
From Christ: The Way, the Truth, and the Life by Brown, John (of Wamphray)
Tennyson's was not an unmitigated optimism, and had no special confidence in "The herd, wild hearts and feeble wings That every sophister can lime."
From Alfred Tennyson by Lang, Andrew
I," observes Franklin, "who stood by and heard all, saw immediately that one of them was a crafty old sophister, and the other a mere novice.
From Benjamin Franklin; Self-Revealed, Volume II (of 2) A Biographical and Critical Study Based Mainly on his own Writings by Bruce, Wiliam Cabell
I, who stood by and heard all, saw immediately that one was a crafty old sophister, and the other a true novice.
From Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin; Written by Himself. [Vol. 1 of 2] With His Most Interesting Essays, Letters, and Miscellaneous Writings; Familiar, Moral, Political, Economical, and Philosophical by Franklin, Benjamin
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.
