Sophism

n.

1.

The doctrine or mode of reasoning practiced by a sophist; hence, any fallacy designed to deceive. When a false argument puts on the appearance of a true one, then it is properly called a sophism, or "fallacy". - I. Watts. Let us first rid ourselves of sophisms, those of depraved men, and those of heartless philosophers. - I. Taylor.

Noun

1.

sophism - a deliberately invalid argument displaying ingenuity in reasoning in the hope of deceiving someone Synonyms: sophistry, sophistication

apparent soundness, argument, argument by analogy, argumentum ad baculum, argumentum ad captandum, argumentum ad hominem, bad case, begging the question, casuistry, circular argument, circularity, claptrap, crowd-pleasing argument, deception, deceptiveness, delusion, disingenuousness, distortion, empty words, equivocalness, equivocation, evasive reasoning, fallaciousness, fallacy, formal fallacy, hysteron proteron, illogicality, insincere argument, insincerity, invalidity, irrationality, jesuitism, jesuitry, logical fallacy, material fallacy, mere rhetoric, misapplication, moonshine, mystification, non sequitur, obfuscation, obscurantism, oversubtlety, paralogism, perversion, petitio principii, philosophism, plausibility, plausibleness, pseudosyllogism, rationalization, solecism, sophistical reasoning, sophistication, sophistry, special pleading, speciosity, specious reasoning, speciousness, spuriousness, subtlety, unsoundness, verbal fallacy, vicious circle, vicious reasoning, weak point