specious en · ADJ · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /ˈspiːʃəs/ (General-American)
- (US) audio
- /ˈspiːʃəs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
From Middle English speciose, specious, from Anglo-Norman specious, Middle French specieux, and their etymon Latin speciōsus (“good-looking”).
Meanings
-
Seemingly well-reasoned, plausible or true, but actually fallacious.
now to the discourse itself, voluble enough, and full of sentence, but that, for the most part, either specious rather than solid, or to his cause nothing pertinent.
1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC:Feig’s Ghostbusters isn’t out until July 15, but since the project was announced in 2014 as a reboot of the hit 1984 film[…] a vocal minority of movie fans have come up with specious reasons to criticize it.
2016 May 18, David Sims, “The Outcry Against the All-Female ‘Ghostbusters’ Remake Gets Louder”, in The Atlantic:“Number two is that for reasons which I regarded at the time as specious and insulting, the Americans objected to your husband's presence on that committee not three weeks after it met, and asked me to replace him with somebody more to their liking. Since Magnus was kingpin of the Czecho operation and of several other little shows in Eastern Europe besides, this was a totally unrealistic demand."
1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:I have frequently amused myself both in public and private companies, with silently remarking, the specious errors of those who speak without reflecting.
1776, Thomas Paine, Common Sense:This idea that we must see through what we have started is specious, however good it may sound.
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Employing fallacious but deceptively plausible arguments; deceitful.
But a third cause of the delusion is, that the Church of Rome has become more specious and deceitful than before the Reformation.
1829, William Phelan, Mortimer O'Sullivan, “Ireland: A digest taken before Select Committees of the two Houses of Parliament, appointed to inquire into the State of Ireland, 1824—25”, in The Christian Review and Clerical Magazine, volume III, page 472:With early virtues plant your breaſt, / The ſpecious arts of vice deteſt.
1727, [John] Gay, “Fable I. The Lyon, the Tyger, and the Traveller.”, in Fables, 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] J[acob] Tonson and J. Watts, published 1728, →OCLC, page 1:
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Having an attractive appearance intended to generate a favorable response; deceptively attractive.
[T]he success of Trajan, however transient, was rapid and specious. The degenerate Parthians, broken by intestine discord, fled before his arms.
1776, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol I, ch 1-pt i:And could any thing be more ſpecious, or more equal, than that fair diſtribution of power and profit, which men called the NEW MODEL?
1760, William Warburton, The Lord Bishop of Gloucester's Sermon Preached Before the Right Honourable the House of Lords, January 30, 1760, page 19:This argument, though specious, will not, upon examination, be found solid.
1788, Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 59:
- (obsolete) Beautiful, pleasing to look at.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| more specious | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most specious | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |
Deriveds
specious present · speciousness · specious tiger · speciously
Relateds
Synonyms
pretextual · fallacious · meretricious
Translations (45)
es falso (with appearance intended to generate a favorable response) · pl fałszywy (with appearance intended to generate a favorable response) · tr aldatıcı (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · de fadenscheinig (with appearance intended to generate a favorable response) · tr yanıltıcı (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · es fingido (with appearance intended to generate a favorable response) · nl schone schijn (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · pt especioso (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · fr spécieux (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · de unfundiert (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · it specioso (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · nl ongegrond (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · cs zdánlivý (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · sh prívidan (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · cmn 似是而非 (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · es especioso (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · ja まことしやかな (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · sh ла̏жан (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · sh то̀божњӣ (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · de Schein- (with appearance intended to generate a favorable response) · ja 似て非なる (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · de vorgeschoben (with appearance intended to generate a favorable response) · cs falešný (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · pl pokrętny (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · es pretextado (with appearance intended to generate a favorable response) · pl bałamutny (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · es de pretexto (with appearance intended to generate a favorable response) · sh vȁrav (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · de fadenscheinig (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · de leer (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · de vordergründig (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · sh tòbožnjī (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · sh ва̏рав (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · sh при́видан (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · cs klamný (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · sh lȁžan (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · eo verŝajna (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · sk zdanlivý (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · fi näennäinen (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · nl misleidend (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · cs zavádějící (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · pl zwodniczy (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious) · fi harhaanjohtava (with appearance intended to generate a favorable response) · bg показен (with appearance intended to generate a favorable response) · bg благовиден (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious)