sophism
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sophism¹
- /ˈsɔfɪzəm/
- [ˈsɔfɪzəm] British, Southern, Standard
- [ˈsɑfɪzəm] US
- [-ɪm] US
Where it comes from
From Middle English sophim, from Old French soffime, sofime, sofisme, sophisme, from Latin sophisma (“fallacy, sophism”), from Ancient Greek σόφῐσμᾰ (sóphĭsmă), from σοφίζω (sophízō) + -μα (-ma).
noun sophisms
-
The school of the sophists in antiquity; their beliefs and method of teaching philosophy and rhetoric.
Within the framework of democracy a new ideology, born of sophism, took root and proclaimed the rights of the individual in all spheres, political as well as moral.
Similar: sophistic
- A flawed argument, superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive. The hope of improvement is a quality at once so strong and so excellent in the human mind, that I, for one, disapprove of any sophism—or, if you will, argument—that tends to repress it.
- An intentional fallacy.
- Sophistic, fallacious reasoning or argumentation. What! No demonstration of the Being of God! No abstract arguments! No proofs a priori! Are these, which have hitherto been so much insisted on by philosophers, all fallacy, all sophism? Can we reach no further in this subject than experience and probability?
sophism²
- /ˈsɔfɪzəm/
- [ˈsɔfɪzəm] British, Southern, Standard
- [ˈsɑfɪzəm] US
- [-ɪm] US
noun
- Archaic spelling of Sufism
Translations
Every language
noun flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
| Español | sofisma, sofismo |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 詭弁 kiben |
| 中文 | 詭辯 /诡辩 guǐbiàn |
| Português | sofisma |
| Français | sophisme |
| Deutsch | Sophismus |
| Italiano | sofisma |
| Ελληνικά | σόφισμα sófisma, σοφιστεία sofisteía |
| Română | sofism |
| Русский | софи́зм sofízm |
| العربية | سَفْسَطَة safsaṭa, مُغَالَطَة muḡālaṭa |
Talk about this word "sophism." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/sophism. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. sophism. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/sophism "sophism." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/sophism.Cite this
@misc{sophism_2026,
title = {sophism},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/sophism},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
