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Webster 1913 Edition


Sophistry

Soph′ist-ry

,
Noun.
[OE.
sophistrie
, OF.
sophisterie
.]
1.
The art or process of reasoning; logic.
[Obs.]
2.
The practice of a sophist; fallacious reasoning; reasoning sound in appearance only.
The juggle of
sophistry
consists, for the most part, in usig a word in one sense in the premise, and in another sense in the conclusion.
Coleridge.
Syn. – See
Fallacy
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Sophistry

SOPH'ISTRY

, n.
1.
Fallacious reasoning; reasoning sound in appearance only. These men have obscured and confounded the nature of things by their false principles and wretched sophistry.
2.
Exercise in logic.

Definition 2024


sophistry

sophistry

English

Noun

sophistry (countable and uncountable, plural sophistries)

  1. (uncountable) Cunning, sometimes manifested as trickery.
    • "Such conduct is at any rate not sophistical, if Aristotle be right in describing sophistry as the art of making money." 1844 - Søren Kierkegaard in Philosophical Fragments (Philosophiske Smuler eller En Smule Philosophi)
  2. (uncountable) The art of using deceptive speech or writing.
  3. (countable) An argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading, especially one devised deliberately to be so.

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