SOPHISTRY Synonyms: 80 Similar and Opposite Words

sophistry

noun

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.

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for sophistry

Noun

There was originally some ambiguity over whether resigning workers would have to do any work for the next eight months.

— Kelly Phillips Erb, Forbes, 5 Feb. 2025
By the end, all snaps into place, though not without some queasy ambiguities and the outings of evil machinations on the part of at least one of the parents.

— Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 5 Feb. 2025