Reference.com

246 results for: Fallacy

The Fallacy Detective
36 Lessons on How to Recognize Bad Reasoning
www.christianlogic.com
Sponsored Link
Dictionary Entries (6 more entries. View all »)
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)Cite This Source
fal·la·cy    Audio Help   [fal-uh-see] Pronunciation Key
–noun, plural -cies.
1.a deceptive, misleading, or false notion, belief, etc.: That the world is flat was at one time a popular fallacy.
2.a misleading or unsound argument.
3.deceptive, misleading, or false nature; erroneousness.
4.Logic. any of various types of erroneous reasoning that render arguments logically unsound.
5.Obsolete. deception.
[Origin: 1350–1400; < L fallācia a trick, deceit, equiv. to fallāc- (s. of fallāx) deceitful, fallacious + -ia -y3; r. ME fallace < MF]

—Synonyms 1. misconception, delusion, misapprehension.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Thesaurus Entries
  Roget's II: The New ThesaurusCite This Source
Main Entry:  fallacy
Part of Speech:  noun
Definition:  An erroneous or false idea.
Synonyms:  erroneousness, error, falsehood, falseness, falsity, untruth
Source:  Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition
by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary.
Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
  Roget's II: The New ThesaurusCite This Source
Main Entry:  fallacy
Part of Speech:  noun
Definition:  Plausible but invalid reasoning.
Synonyms:  casuistry, sophism, sophistry, speciousness, spuriousness
Source:  Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition
by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary.
Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
  Synonym Collection v1.1Cite This Source
Main Entry:  fallacy
Part of Speech:  noun
Synonyms:  deception, delusion, error, falsehood, flaw, illusion, misconception, mistake, preconception, sophism, sophistry, paralogism
Source:  Synonym Collection v1.1
Copyright © 2008 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC.

Encyclopedia Articles (235 more entries. View all »)
Columbia Electronic EncyclopediaCite This Source


fallacy, in logic, a term used to characterize an invalid argument. Strictly speaking, it refers only to the transition from a set of premises to a conclusion, and is distinguished from falsity, a value attributed to a single statement. The laws of syllogisms were systematically elaborated by Aristotle, and for an argument to be valid, it must adhere to all the laws; to be fallacious, it need only break one (see syllogism). The term fallacy has come to be used in a somewhat wider sense than the purely formal one. Informal fallacies are said to occur when statements are ambiguous or vague as to the logical form they represent, or when a multiplicity of meaning is present and the validity of the argument depends on switching meanings of a word or a phrase in midstream. 
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004, Columbia University Press.
Licensed from Columbia University Press




View results from: Dictionary | Thesaurus | Encyclopedia | All Reference | the Web








Perform a new search, or try your search for "Fallacy" at: