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
Many of Khan’s progressive allies have floated a much more realistic cure for Khan’s abysmal litigation track record: to rewrite antitrust laws in Congress, where laws are made, instead of losing case after case in court with tortured legalistic sophistry and ad hoc judicial rulemaking.
—
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 7 Dec. 2023
Dickie, a student at Trinity College, wanders into a club debate, where he’s bewitched by the quicksilver sophistry of one of his peers, Willie, who is openly gay.
—Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2023
While much of the book is devoted to contrasting the subtle reality of judicial decision-making with the crude portrayal that increasingly dominates popular discourse, the subtleties to which Breyer draws our attention are mostly sophistry—as Breyer more or less concedes.
—Ryan D. Doerfler, The New Republic, 13 Oct. 2021
People know just enough to engage in sophistry so as to confuse and convince the choir, and bluster among the ignorant.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 15 Sep. 2013
See All Example Sentences for sophistry
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 7 Dec. 2023
Dickie, a student at Trinity College, wanders into a club debate, where he’s bewitched by the quicksilver sophistry of one of his peers, Willie, who is openly gay.
—Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2023
While much of the book is devoted to contrasting the subtle reality of judicial decision-making with the crude portrayal that increasingly dominates popular discourse, the subtleties to which Breyer draws our attention are mostly sophistry—as Breyer more or less concedes.
—Ryan D. Doerfler, The New Republic, 13 Oct. 2021
People know just enough to engage in sophistry so as to confuse and convince the choir, and bluster among the ignorant.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 15 Sep. 2013
See All Example Sentences for sophistry
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sophistry
Noun
-
Leading in ongoing ambiguity demands emotional endurance, narrative agility and the strength to stay grounded while evolving at speed.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2025
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Director Flanagan handles the escalating insanity with suggestive ambiguity, nothing too bombastic for as long as the story allows.—
Michael Phillips,
Chicago Tribune,
6 June 2025
Noun
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But these seductions or deceptions are canceled when the work confronts us with the photographic records of the performative procedure itself—and not only by making the photograph an integral component, the dialectical complement to the material sculptural production.—
Benjamin H. D. Buchloh,
Artforum,
1 June 2025
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He’s got some deception on the puck and does a good job holding onto it to wait for secondary options to open up, but slows the game down too much.—
Scott Wheeler,
New York Times,
29 May 2025
Noun
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On his life as a moviegoer So vividly drawn is King’s fiction that it’s offered the basis for some 50 feature films.—
Jake Coyle,
Twin Cities,
5 June 2025
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From Paper to Protocol Today’s trade infrastructure is a patchwork of legal fictions and trust intermediaries - letters of credit, bills of lading, third-party guarantees - many of which exist solely to simulate trust.—
Sean Lee,
Forbes.com,
5 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sophistry.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sophistry. Accessed 13 Jun. 2025.
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