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
The case was resolved on Jan. 13 of this year when the judge dismissed de Blasio’s specious case in an 81-page ruling.
—
New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 15 May 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for specious
New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 15 May 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for specious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for specious
Adjective
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Falter, 28, is a deceptive lefty under team control through 2028 who is enjoying his best season, with a 3.73 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP in 22 starts.—
The Athletic MLB Staff,
New York Times,
1 Aug. 2025
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The attackers use deceptive ads that imitate popular cryptocurrency brands like Binance, TradingView, ByBit and MetaMask.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
1 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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The leaders who rise—and the companies that outperform—will be those that refuse the false trade-off.—
Jack Zenger,
Forbes.com,
30 July 2025
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Winfrey's spokesperson told Newsweek that these reports are false, and that the road will remain open as long as is necessary.—
Marni Rose McFall,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Specious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/specious. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025.
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