sophistry
/ˈsɑ.fɪ.stɹi/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.15 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading, especially one devised deliberately to be so.
Countable
Example Sentences
- "Such conduct is at any rate not sophistical, if Aristotle be right in describing sophistry as the art of making money."
- "And so, my head hitting have to be real, solid, and true, with no sophistry or fantasy about them."
- "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."
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: safistre, sofisterie, sophistria, sophestria, sophista, σοφιστής
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsɑ.fɪ.stɹi/
- British English: /ˈsɒ.fɪ.stɹi/