as in misleading
tending or having power to deceive
a specious argument that really does not stand up under close examination
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Recent Examples of specious
Inside, the layout is streamlined and intuitive, with a door-in-door compartment for quick grabs, a specious full-width drawer, and a three-tier organization system in the freezer.
—
Bailey Berg, Architectural Digest, 11 Apr. 2025
But the finer points of theories that Joey is anti-TDE grow specious, rooted in the same confirmation bias that populates the loftier reviewed Genius annotations.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 1 Apr. 2025
An odd digression into the origins of Mormonism recalls the specious race-and-crime history in Killers of the Flower Moon, which gave us DeNiro’s most repulsive characterization to date, a portrait as revealing as Dorian Gray’s.
—Armond White, National Review, 21 Mar. 2025
Most of these judges are issuing specious rulings that will be overturned by higher courts, but these judges are only the first stop in a judicial process that will ultimately lead to the Supreme Court.
—Chris Roemer, Baltimore Sun, 27 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for specious
Bailey Berg, Architectural Digest, 11 Apr. 2025
But the finer points of theories that Joey is anti-TDE grow specious, rooted in the same confirmation bias that populates the loftier reviewed Genius annotations.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 1 Apr. 2025
An odd digression into the origins of Mormonism recalls the specious race-and-crime history in Killers of the Flower Moon, which gave us DeNiro’s most repulsive characterization to date, a portrait as revealing as Dorian Gray’s.
—Armond White, National Review, 21 Mar. 2025
Most of these judges are issuing specious rulings that will be overturned by higher courts, but these judges are only the first stop in a judicial process that will ultimately lead to the Supreme Court.
—Chris Roemer, Baltimore Sun, 27 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for specious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for specious
Adjective
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In the suit, filed Friday, Newsom says that Fox News had used deceptive edits to claim that the governor had lied in saying that Trump had not called him about deploying National Guard troops during the L.A. protests.—
Caitlin Huston,
HollywoodReporter,
27 June 2025
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Florida is leading the way in what can become a national movement to crack down on hospitals’ deceptive and unfair billing practices.—
Cynthia A. Fisher,
Sun Sentinel,
26 June 2025
Adjective
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Simultaneously, Dani Olmo could act as a false number 9 while a Robert Lewandowski believed to be on his way to Saudi Arabia in 2026 is gradually phased out.—
Tom Sanderson,
Forbes.com,
24 June 2025
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But an investigation resulted in an astonishing call from the other side of the world, which revealed that ‘The GPO Girl’ was, in fact, a 25-year-old Australian, who has created more than 100 false identities.—
Max Goldbart,
Deadline,
24 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Specious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/specious. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.
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