Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SOPHISTRY

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.

 

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

SOPHISTRY

Soph "ist *ry, n. Etym: [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.

 

New American Oxford Dictionary

sophistry

soph ist ry |ˈsäfəstrē ˈsɑfəstri | ▶noun ( pl. sophistries ) the use of fallacious arguments, esp. with the intention of deceiving. • a fallacious argument.

 

Oxford Dictionary

sophistry

sophistry |ˈsɒfɪstri | ▶noun ( pl. sophistries ) [ mass noun ] the use of clever but false arguments, especially with the intention of deceiving. • [ count noun ] a fallacious argument.

 

American Oxford Thesaurus

sophistry

sophistry noun 1 to claim this is pure sophistry: specious reasoning, fallacy, sophism, casuistry. 2 a speech full of sophistries: fallacious argument, sophism, fallacy; Logic paralogism.

 

Oxford Thesaurus

sophistry

sophistry noun 1 to claim that patients differ in any more fundamental way is pure sophistry: specious reasoning, the use of fallacious arguments, sophism, casuistry, quibbling, equivocation, fallaciousness. 2 he went along with this sophistry, but his heart clearly wasn't in it: fallacious argument, sophism, fallacy, quibble; Logic paralogism.

 

Sanseido Wisdom Dictionary

sophistry

soph ist ry /sɑ́fɪstri |sɔ́f -/名詞 複 -ries ｟かたく ｠1 C 詭弁 （きべん ）; こじつけ, へ理屈 .2 U 詭弁法 ; 詭弁を弄 （ろう ）すること .