Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Language: Medieval Latin
Origin: sophistria, from Latin sophista 'one who uses sophistry', from Greek sophistes 'wise man, teacher of knowledge, user of sophistry', from sophizesthai 'to become wise, deceive', from sophos 'clever, wise'

sophistry

 noun
     
soph‧ist‧ry plural sophistries [uncountable and countable] formal
the clever use of reasons or explanations that seem correct but are really false, in order to deceive people
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
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