sophistry

[ sof-uh-stree ]

/ ˈsɒf ə stri /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR sophistry ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural soph·ist·ries.

a subtle, tricky, superficially plausible, but generally fallacious method of reasoning.

a false argument; sophism.

Words nearby sophistry

sophister, sophistic, sophisticate, sophisticated, sophistication, sophistry, sophists, sophocles, sophomore, sophomoric, sophonias

Origin of sophistry

1300–50; Middle English sophistrie < Middle French, equivalent to sophistre sophister + -ie -y³

OTHER WORDS FROM sophistry

an·ti·soph·ist·ry, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for sophistry

One of the arguments for intervention arising from the Syria strikes relies on a bit of sophistry.
What Israel's Attack Doesn't Mean For American Intervention In Syria|Ali Gharib|May 6, 2013|DAILY BEAST
No amount of rouge will ever camouflage rhetoric and sophistry.
Letter to a Young Critic: William Giraldi Defends True Criticism|William Giraldi|September 5, 2012|DAILY BEAST
But there is a sophistry which attends all the passions, especially those into which the populace enter.
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part F.|David Hume
People unpleasantly refer me back, and to escape I have to invent some sophistry.
The Journal of a Disappointed Man|Wilhelm Nero Pilate Barbellion

It is his inability to discover the true mode of investigation that accounts for much of Rousseau's sophistry.
The Rise of the Democracy|Joseph Clayton
In our attempt to reconcile God's conduct with morality, we resort to sophistry.
Morality Without God|M. M. Mangasarian
It is always acceptable to my mind, and, stripped of all sophistry and oblique conditions, it would appear the same to every mind.
The Speech of Monkeys|R. L. Garner

British Dictionary definitions for sophistry

sophistry

/ (ˈsɒfɪstrɪ) /

noun plural -ries

a method of argument that is seemingly plausible though actually invalid and misleading
the art of using such arguments

subtle but unsound or fallacious reasoning

an instance of this; sophism

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

sophistry

noun, plural soph·ist·ries.

Words related to sophistry

Words nearby sophistry

Origin of sophistry

OTHER WORDS FROM sophistry

Examples from the Web for sophistry

British Dictionary definitions for sophistry

noun plural -ries