sophism

Etymology

From Middle English sophim, from Old French soffime, sofime, sofisme, sophisme, from Latin sophisma (“fallacy, sophism”), from Ancient Greek σόφῐσμᾰ (sóphĭsmă), from σοφίζω (sophízō) + -μα (-ma).

sophism means the school of the sophists in antiquity; their beliefs and method of teaching philosophy and rhetoric. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 83 out of 100.

Why this word is great

SOPHISM — [Noun] A clever but fallacious argument, often constructed with deceptive intent. From Middle English sophim, from Old French sophisme, from Latin sophisma ("fallacy, sophism"), from Ancient Greek σόφισμα (sóphisma, "acquired skill, clever device"), from σοφίζω (sophízō, "to make wise, devise cleverly") + -μα (-ma, nominal suffix). Unlike "casuistry," which dissects moral dilemmas with specious subtlety, or the neutral, academic "fallacy," a sophism is rhetoric weaponized—a sleek trap baited with intellect. It is the glib politician pivoting with a non sequitur, the advertisement’s sleek equation of purchase with virtue, the lawyer’s elegant proof that black is white, offered with a knowing smile. The true craft lies not in finding truth, but in simulating its satisfying weight.

noun

The school of the sophists in antiquity; their beliefs and method of teaching philosophy and rhetoric.“Within the framework of democracy a new ideology, born of sophism, took root and proclaimed the rights of the individual in all spheres, political as well as moral.”
A flawed argument, superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive.“The hope of improvement is a quality at once so strong and so excellent in the human mind, that I, for one, disapprove of any sophism—or, if you will, argument—that tends to repress it.”
An intentional fallacy.
Sophistic, fallacious reasoning or argumentation.“What! No demonstration of the Being of God! No abstract arguments! No proofs a priori! Are these, which have hitherto been so much insisted on by philosophers, all fallacy, all sophism? Can we reach no further in this subject than experience and probability?”