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sophist

soph·ist
S s

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [sof-ist]
    • /ˈsɒf ɪst/
    • /ˈsɒf.ɪ.stri/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [sof-ist]
    • /ˈsɒf ɪst/

Definitions of sophist word

  • noun sophist (often initial capital letter) Greek History. any of a class of professional teachers in ancient Greece who gave instruction in various fields, as in general culture, rhetoric, politics, or disputation. a person belonging to this class at a later period who, while professing to teach skill in reasoning, concerned himself with ingenuity and specious effectiveness rather than soundness of argument. 1
  • noun sophist a person who reasons adroitly and speciously rather than soundly. 1
  • noun sophist a philosopher. 1
  • noun sophist Greek thinker 1
  • noun sophist one who uses elaborate but unsound arguments 1
  • noun sophist one of the pre-Socratic philosophers who were itinerant professional teachers of oratory and argument and who were prepared to enter into debate on any matter however specious 0

Information block about the term

Origin of sophist

First appearance:

before 1535
One of the 29% oldest English words
1535-45; < Latin sophista < Greek sophistḗs sage, derivative of sophízesthai

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Sophist

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

sophist popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 73% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

sophist usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for sophist

noun sophist

  • apologist — An apologist is a person who writes or speaks in defence of a belief, a cause, or a person's life.
  • casuist — a person, esp a theologian, who attempts to resolve moral dilemmas by the application of general rules and the careful distinction of special cases
  • devil's advocate — If you play devil's advocate in a discussion or debate, you express an opinion which you may not agree with but which is very different to what other people have been saying, in order to make the argument more interesting.
  • dissembler — to give a false or misleading appearance to; conceal the truth or real nature of: to dissemble one's incompetence in business.
  • four-flusher — a person who makes false or pretentious claims; bluffer.

Top questions with sophist

  • what is a sophist?
  • what does sophist mean?
  • what was a sophist?
  • what is sophist?

See also

Matching words

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