sophist
English
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]Learned borrowing from Latin sophista and sophistes, borrowed from Ancient Greek σοφιστής (sophistḗs, “wise one”), from σοφίζομαι (sophízomai, “to become wise”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]sophist (plural sophists)
- (historical) Alternative letter-case form of Sophist, certain teachers in Ancient Greece, particularly skilled orators.
- (figurative) A teacher who uses plausible but fallacious reasoning.
- Synonym: (obsolete) sophister
- (figurative, by extension) One who is captious, fallacious, or deceptive in argument.
- Synonyms: logic chopper, pilpulist, (obsolete) sophister
- 1699, Richard Bentley, “The Preface”, in A Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris. With an Answer to the Objections of the Honourable Charles Boyle, Esquire, London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for Henry Mortlock […], and John Hartley […], →OCLC, page iii:
- [T]hey have acted in this Calumny both the injuſtice of the Tyrant, and the forgery of the Sophiſt.
- (dated) Synonym of sophister (“university student who has completed at least one year”).
Coordinate terms
[edit]- (all senses): sophistress (archaic)
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]ancient teacher of rhetoric, etc.
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one who is captious, fallacious, or deceptive in argument
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Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English learned borrowings from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with historical senses
- English terms with quotations
- English dated terms
- en:People
- en:Philosophy
- en:Rhetoric
- en:Ancient Greece
- en:Education