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sophistry - 4 dictionary results

soph⋅ist⋅ry

  [sof-uh-stree]
Use sophistry in a Sentence
–noun, plural -ries.
1. a subtle, tricky, superficially plausible, but generally fallacious method of reasoning.
2. a false argument; sophism.
Origin:
1300–50; ME sophistrie < MF, equiv. to sophistre sophister + -ie -y 3
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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soph·is·try   (sŏf'ĭ-strē)   
n.   pl. soph·is·tries
  1. Plausible but fallacious argumentation.
  2. A plausible but misleading or fallacious argument.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Sophistry

Soph"ist*ry\, n. [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's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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sophistry 
1340, from O.Fr. sophistrie, from M.L. sophistria, from L. sophista, sophistes (see sophist).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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