specious

play

adjective spe·cious \ ˈspē-shəs \

Definition of specious

1 obsolete :showy

2 :having deceptive attraction or allure

3 :having a false look of truth or genuineness :sophistic

specious reasoning

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speciously

adverb

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speciousness

noun

See specious defined for English-language learners

See specious defined for kids

specious was our Word of the Day on 10/26/2006. Hear the podcast!

Examples of specious in a Sentence

Forty years ago I was not yet thirty, and my father still held to the hope that I would come to my senses, abandon the practice of journalism, and follow a career in one of the Wall Street money trades. As a young man during the Great Depression he had labored briefly as a city-room reporter for William Randolph Hearst's San Francisco Examiner, and he knew that the game was poorly paid and usually rigged, more often than not a matter of converting specious rumor into dubious fact. —Lewis H. Lapham, Harper's, February 2004
By and large, they made these changes with specious explanations or no explanation at all. Today, when curricula list rhetoric as a subject, it usually means simply the study of how to write effectively. —Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy, (1982) 2002
One must always guard the interests of one's constituency in the public forum even when its claims are weak or perhaps specious, lest one's opponents steal the march in the never-ending battle for resources or public support. —Robert Jackall et al., Image Makers, 2000
He justified his actions with specious reasoning.
a specious argument that really does not stand up under close examination

Recent Examples of specious from the Web

The people that push you to prove your existence will seldom accept any facts, and will skate around the multitude of flaws in their very repetitive and utterly specious arguments.

— marceline cook, SELF, "10 Transgender People Share What They Wish They Knew Before Transitioning," 29 Aug. 2017
A Jersey boy himself, Jasper rouses more feeling than a specious blue-collar comedy like Kevin Smith’s Clerks.

— armond white, National Review, "Class Consciousness, French- and American-Style," 18 Aug. 2017
Sportswriters are not alone in their reluctance and specious qualifications as arbiters of social justice.

— marcus hayes, Philly.com, "Stick to sports at Eagles games? If only that were possible | Marcus Hayes," 18 Aug. 2017
Verizon offers vague and specious allegations (instead of specific explanations) for denying network access.

— jon brodkin, Ars Technica, "FCC seemingly forgot about a net neutrality complaint filed against Verizon," 10 Aug. 2017
This entire commission is based on the specious and false notion that there was widespread voter fraud last November.

— eugene scott, CNN, "Trump on states rebuffing his voter fraud effort: 'What are they trying to hide?'," 1 July 2017
Any complaint about my behavior, no matter how specious, could be a mark against my record.

— oliver bateman, The Atlantic, "The Young Academic's Twitter Conundrum," 10 May 2017
So the argument that the Challenger SRT Demon should not be allowed on our roads is specious, at best.

— terry troy, cleveland.com, "Challenger SRT Demon pushes the performance envelope," 10 May 2017
Specious narratives, conspiracy theories, and indeed fake news have been part of Russia’s geopolitical playbook for more than half a century.

— vanityfair.com, VanityFair.com, "Is Trump’s Chaos Tornado a Move From the Kremlin’s Playbook?," 28 Mar. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'specious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Appearances can be deceptive. "Things are not always as they seem." Like these familiar proverbs, the word specious attests that English speakers can be a skeptical lot when it comes to trusting outward appearances. Specious traces to the Latin word speciosus, meaning "beautiful" or "plausible," and Middle English speakers used it to mean "visually pleasing." But by the 17th century, specious had begun to suggest an attractiveness that was superficial or deceptive, and, subsequently, the word's neutral "pleasing" sense faded into obsolescence.