Definitions for: Fallacy

[n] a misconception resulting from incorrect reasoning

Webster (1913) Definition: Fal"la*cy, n.; pl. Fallacies. [OE. fallace, fallas,
deception, F. fallace, fr. L. fallacia, fr. fallax deceitful,
deceptive, fr. fallere to deceive. See Fail.]
1. Deceptive or false appearance; deceitfulness; that which
misleads the eye or the mind; deception.

Winning by conquest what the first man lost, By
fallacy surprised. --Milton.

2. (Logic) An argument, or apparent argument, which professes
to be decisive of the matter at issue, while in reality it
is not; a sophism.

Syn: Deception; deceit; mistake.

Usage: Fallacy, Sophistry. A fallacy is an argument which
professes to be decisive, but in reality is not;
sophistry is also false reasoning, but of so specious
and subtle a kind as to render it difficult to expose
its fallacy. Many fallacies are obvious, but the evil
of sophistry lies in its consummate art. ``Men are apt
to suffer their minds to be misled by fallacies which
gratify their passions. Many persons have obscured and
confounded the nature of things by their wretched
sophistry; though an act be never so sinful, they will
strip it of its guilt.'' --South.

Synonyms: false belief

See Also: logical fallacy, misconception, paralogism, pathetic fallacy, pseudoscience, sophism, sophistication, sophistry

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