fallacy
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English, from Old French fallace, from Latin fallacia (“deception, deceit”), from fallax (“deceptive, deceitful”), from fallere (“to deceive”).
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfæləsi/
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Audio (US) (file)
Noun[edit]
fallacy (plural fallacies)
- Deceptive or false appearance; deceitfulness; that which misleads the eye or the mind; deception.
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1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, London: A[ndrew] Millar, OCLC 928184292:
- Mr Jones expressed great gratitude to the lady for the kind intentions towards him which she had expressed, and indeed testified, by this proposal; but, besides intimating some diffidence of success from the lady’s knowledge of his love to her niece, which had not been her case in regard to Mr Fitzpatrick, he said, he was afraid Miss Western would never agree to an imposition of this kind, as well from her utter detestation of all fallacy as from her avowed duty to her aunt.
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- (logic) An argument, or apparent argument, which professes to be decisive of the matter at issue, while in reality it is not. A specious argument.
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
deceptive or false appearance
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false argument
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- fallacy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- fallacy in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- fallacy at OneLook Dictionary Search
