Sophistry (Noun)
Meaning
A deliberately invalid argument displaying ingenuity in reasoning in the hope of deceiving someone.
Classification
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents.
Examples
- The politician's opponent accused him of using sophistry to convince voters of his economic plan, citing numerous flawed assumptions and contradictory data.
- The advertising agency was known for its use of sophistry, employing catchy slogans and flawed logic to sell products that didn't deliver on their promises.
- Critics of the philosopher's argument labeled it as sophistry, arguing that it relied on ambiguous language and specious reasoning to arrive at an unconvincing conclusion.
- The student's attempt to defend their late submission as a legitimate artistic statement was dismissed by the teacher as nothing more than sophistry.
- The journalist exposed the think tank's report as an example of sophistry, revealing how it cherry-picked data and distorted statistics to support a predetermined agenda.