Dictionary

sophistry en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈsɒ.fɪ.stɹi/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈsɑ.fɪ.stɹi/ (US)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English safistre, soffistre, sofystry, sophestrie, sophestry, sophestrye, sophistre, sophistri, sophistrie, sophistry, sophistrye, sophystrye, from Old French sofisterie, sophistrie and Medieval Latin sophistria, Anglo-Latin sophestria, from Latin sophista, from Ancient Greek σοφιστής (sophistḗs, “wise man”), from σοφίζω (sophízō, “to be wise”), from σοφός (sophós, “wise”), equivalent to sophist + -ry.

Meanings

1. (historical, uncountable) The actions or arguments of a sophist.
   • Such conduct is at any rate not sophistical, if Aristotle be right in describing sophistry as the art of making money. 1844, Søren Kierkegaard, Philosophical Fragments:
2. (uncountable) Plausible yet fallacious argumentation or reasoning.
   • And so, my head hitting have to be real, solid, and true, with no sophistry or fantasy about them. Part 1 published in 1605, Part 2 in 1615, translated in 2003, Miguel de Cervantes and translated by Edith Grossman, Don Quixote, page 197:
3. (countable) An argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading, especially one devised deliberately to be so.
   • And so he reasoned until the first generous impulse to proclaim the truth and relinquish his titles and his estates to their rightful owner was forgotten beneath the mass of sophistries which self-interest had advanced. 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 99:

Forms

Deriveds

deipnosophistry

Hyponyms

euhemerization (plausible but fallacious argumentation or arguments) · rationalization (plausible but fallacious argumentation or arguments)

Relateds

Sophia · casuistry · sophism · demagogy · sophistication · rhetoric · sophist

Synonyms

pilpulism (plausible but fallacious argumentation or arguments) · excuse (plausible but fallacious argumentation or arguments) · Jesuitry (plausible but fallacious argumentation or arguments) · casuistics (plausible but fallacious argumentation or arguments) · Jesuitism (plausible but fallacious argumentation or arguments) · sophism (plausible but fallacious argumentation or arguments) · pilpul (plausible but fallacious argumentation or arguments) · casuistry (plausible but fallacious argumentation or arguments)

Translations (24)

es argucia (an argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading) · es sofistería (actions of a sophist) · de Wortklauberei (plausible yet fallacious argumentations or reasoning) · el σοφιστεία (an argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading) · de Haarspalterei (an argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading) · el σόφισμα (an argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading) · sv hårklyveri (an argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading) · hi हथकंडा (an argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading) · pt sofisma (an argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading) · sv sofisteri (plausible yet fallacious argumentations or reasoning) · cmn 詭辯 /诡辩 (an argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading) · pl sofistyka (an argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading) · sv spetsfundighet (plausible yet fallacious argumentations or reasoning) · pl sofistyka (plausible yet fallacious argumentations or reasoning) · sv sofisteri (an argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading) · es sofistería (plausible yet fallacious argumentations or reasoning) · la argūtia (an argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading) · bg софистика (plausible yet fallacious argumentations or reasoning) · hi जाल (an argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading) · sv hårklyveri (plausible yet fallacious argumentations or reasoning) · sv spetsfundighet (an argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading) · ja 詭弁 (an argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading) · ru софи́стика (an argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading) · sv sofisteri (actions of a sophist)