elenchus

American  

[ih-leng-kuhs] / ɪˈlɛŋ kəs /

noun

elenchi plural

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

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• elenchi
  plural

Etymology

Origin of elenchus

1655–65; < Latin < Greek élenchos refutation

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

elenchus elenchi

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

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

The ignoratio elenchi is in his own mind.

From Orthodoxy: Its Truths And Errors by Clarke, James Freeman

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

Related Words

• rebuttal