as in ambiguity
reasoning or arguments that sound correct but are actually false
She said that many of the points made during the debate were pure sophistry.
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Recent Examples of sophistry
The 2022 vaccine mandate decision, another 6-3 masterpiece, turned on sophistry that workplace rules only covered hazards found solely in the workplace (but somehow excluding, say, forced air-breathing with infected employees), and ignored the deeper reality that vaccines save lives.
—
The Editors, Scientific American, 10 July 2024
And if Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta try to point it out before Manchester City faces Arsenal on Sunday, it will be viewed as gamesmanship, or deflection, or unapologetic sophistry.
—Rory Smith, New York Times, 29 Mar. 2024
Amid the verbal sophistry of recent months, it’s become increasingly clear that actions speak far louder.
—Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 23 Dec. 2023
Today, no amount of sophistry can sustain that claim.
—Andrew J. Bacevich, Foreign Affairs, 28 Feb. 2023
See All Example Sentences for sophistry
The Editors, Scientific American, 10 July 2024
And if Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta try to point it out before Manchester City faces Arsenal on Sunday, it will be viewed as gamesmanship, or deflection, or unapologetic sophistry.
—Rory Smith, New York Times, 29 Mar. 2024
Amid the verbal sophistry of recent months, it’s become increasingly clear that actions speak far louder.
—Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 23 Dec. 2023
Today, no amount of sophistry can sustain that claim.
—Andrew J. Bacevich, Foreign Affairs, 28 Feb. 2023
See All Example Sentences for sophistry
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sophistry
Noun
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The brain is also far more adept at handling things like ambiguity, subtlety, and nuance.—
Matthew S Williams,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Feb. 2026
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What qualifies is highly subjective, but that ambiguity has overwhelmingly benefited federal officers, according to the two legal scholars.—
Max Taves,
Mercury News,
4 Feb. 2026
Noun
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For years, deception remained essential to its survival.—
Azadeh Moaveni,
Time,
3 Feb. 2026
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This can be achieved through a winger’s crafty skating, stickhandling and deception to cut into the middle while carrying the puck, or, more commonly, by making skilled passes into the slot area.—
Harman Dayal,
New York Times,
2 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Of course, the retort is that this would be irritating and exasperating to be continually deluged with alerts about AI deceptiveness.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
24 Aug. 2025
Noun
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For a generation raised on viral clips of air‑rage fights and customer‑service meltdowns, the quiet order of a Japanese train car—no loud phone calls, no overflowing trash—reads almost like aspirational fiction.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
5 Feb. 2026
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Ginger Strand Ginger Strand is an American author of nonfiction and fiction.—
Natalia Sánchez Loayza,
Scientific American,
5 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sophistry.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sophistry. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.
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