sophists

Cultural  

1. Ancient Greek teachers who were accused by some of their contemporaries (including Plato) of being more interested in winning arguments through crafty rhetoric than in pursuing truth.

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By extension, a “sophist” is someone who engages in persuasive but false arguments.

Example Sentences

International politics is not best overseen by saints or sophists.

From Los Angeles Times

Like Socrates exposing the sophists of Athens, Kierkegaard “sought to expose” false teachers of grand schemes, the “pseudo-philosophers.”

From Washington Post

The Greek sophists were learned men who made clever arguments that were, in fact, false.

From Washington Post

The sophists of Athens’ golden age were at it hundreds of years before Julius Caesar brought his populist touch to the Roman republic.

From The Guardian

And while lawyers — I love you, you sophists! — are full of entertaining zingers, those zingers are expensive.

From The Verge