specious

Advancedzipf 2.45

Pronunciation

/ˈspiːʃəs/(SPEE-shus)

Part of speech

adjectiveformal

Chinese

似是而非的；看似合理实则错误的

Definition

Superficially plausible but actually wrong; misleadingly attractive in appearance.

Word family

  • speciously/ˈspiːʃəsli/(adv)似是而非地
  • speciousness/ˈspiːʃəsnəs/(n)似是而非

Collocations

  • specious argument
  • specious reasoning
  • specious claim
  • specious logic

Examples

  1. 1.The specious argument that correlation equals causation continues to mislead people. (superficially plausible but wrong)
  2. 2.Her specious charm masked a calculating personality. (misleadingly attractive)

Synonyms

  • fallacious/fəˈleɪʃəs/— containing a logical error
  • sophistic/səˈfɪstɪk/— cleverly deceptive
  • plausible/ˈplɔːzɪbəl/— seemingly reasonable — neutral, not inherently deceptive

Etymology

from Latin "speciosus" (beautiful, plausible) — from "species" (appearance) — beautiful on the surface only