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
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
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
See All Example Sentences for 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
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
See All Example Sentences for sophistry
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sophistry
Noun
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Young people lack experience with the awkward pauses of conversation, the ambiguity of social cues, and the grit required to make up with a hurt or angry friend.—
Russell Shaw,
The Atlantic,
11 July 2025
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Poker Face has played fast and loose with how Charlie’s gift actually works, an intentional ambiguity that only gets more complicated with the reveal that actually, yeah, Charlie can be lied to.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
10 July 2025
Noun
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This deception couldn’t come at a worse time for America’s debt.—
Thomas Kahn,
Chicago Tribune,
8 July 2025
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Unlike earlier studies that uncovered evasion or deception, this research exposed a more alarming phenomenon: models calculating that unethical behavior was a justifiable strategy for survival.—
Hamilton Mann,
Forbes.com,
29 June 2025
Noun
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Girl, 1983 is still more deft in its experiments, subverting conventional ideas about fiction’s use of the truth.—
Rachel Vorona Cote,
The Atlantic,
15 July 2025
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That is why this fiction is not built on facts, but rather on traversing the labyrinths of memory.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
15 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sophistry.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sophistry. Accessed 19 Jul. 2025.
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