specious

English

WOTD – 31 August 2007

Etymology

From Latin speciōsus (“good-looking”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈspiːʃəs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːʃəs

Adjective

specious (comparative more specious, superlative most specious)

1. Seemingly well-reasoned, plausible or true, but actually fallacious.

   This idea that we must see through what we have started is specious, however good it may sound.

   • 1776, Thomas Paine, Common Sense,

     I have frequently amused myself both in public and private companies, with silently remarking, the specious errors of those who speak without reflecting.

2. Who or that uses fallacious but deceptively plausible arguments, deceitful.
   • 1829, William Phelan, Mortimer O'Sullivan, Ireland: A digest taken before Select Committees of the two Houses of Parliament, appointed to inquire into the State of Ireland, 1824—25, in The Christian Review and Clerical Magazine, Volume III, page 472,

     But a third cause of the delusion is, that the Church of Rome has become more specious and deceitful than before the Reformation.

3. Having an attractive appearance intended to generate a favorable response; deceptively attractive.
   • 1760, William Warburton, The Lord Bishop of Gloucester's Sermon Preached Before the Right Honourable the House of Lords, January 30, 1760, page 19,

     And could any thing be more ſpecious, or more equal, than that fair diſtribution of power and profit, which men called the NEW MODEL?

4. (obsolete) Beautiful, pleasing to look at.

Synonyms

• (seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious): fallacious, insincere
• (with appearance intended to generate a favorable response): meretricious

Derived terms

• specious present
• specious tiger (Asota speciosa, a species of moth)

Related terms

• speciosity
• speciously
• speciousness

Translations

seemingly well-reasoned, but fallacious

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 似是而非 (zh) (sìshìérfēi)

• Czech: zdánlivý m
• Dutch: schoonschijnend, misleidend (nl), ongegrond (nl),
• French: spécieux (fr) m, spécieuse (fr) f
• German: vordergründig (de), fadenscheinig (de), unfundiert, leer (de)
• Japanese: まことしやかな (makotoshiyaka na), 似て非なる (nite hinaru)

• Portuguese: especioso
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ва̏рав, при́видан, то̀божњӣ, ла̏жан

  Roman: vȁrav (sh), prívidan (sh), tòbožnjī (sh), lȁžan (sh)

• Spanish: especioso
• Turkish: aldatıcı (tr), yanıltıcı (tr)

with appearance intended to generate a favorable response

• German: Schein- (de)

Anagrams

• cosies up