Dictionary entry

Sophistry

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Soph″ist‐ry (?), n. [OE. sophistrie, OF. sophisterie.] 1. The art or process of reasoning; logic.

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.