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sophist

UK:^*^*UK and possibly other pronunciationsUK and possibly other pronunciations/ˈsɒfɪst/US:USA pronunciation: IPA and respellingUSA pronunciation: IPA/ˈsɑfɪst/ ,USA pronunciation: respelling(sof′ist)

soph•ist /ˈsɑfɪst/USA pronunciation n. [countable]

Philosophyone who reasons cleverly but not truthfully.

See -soph-.

soph•ist (sof′ist),USA pronunciation n.

Philosophy(often cap.) [Gk. Hist.]
- Philosophyany of a class of professional teachers in ancient Greece who gave instruction in various fields, as in general culture, rhetoric, politics, or disputation.
- Philosophya person belonging to this class at a later period who, while professing to teach skill in reasoning, concerned himself with ingenuity and specious effectiveness rather than soundness of argument.
Philosophya person who reasons adroitly and speciously rather than soundly.
a philosopher.

Greek sophisté̄s sage, derivative of sophízesthai
Latin sophista
1535–45

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

sophist /ˈsɒfɪst/ n

(often capital) one of the pre-Socratic philosophers who were itinerant professional teachers of oratory and argument and who were prepared to enter into debate on any matter however specious
a person who uses clever or quibbling arguments that are fundamentally unsound

Etymology: 16th Century: from Latin sophista, from Greek sophistēs a wise man, from sophizesthai to act craftily

'sophist' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):

casuist - Gorgias - Protagoras - deipnosophist - gymnosophist - pansophism - sophism - sophister - sophistic

Synonyms: thinker, caviler, rhetorician, critic, pedant, more...

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sophist