sophist

Meaning

1. One of a class of teachers of rhetoric, philosophy, and politics in ancient Greece.
2. (figuratively) A teacher who uses plausible but fallacious reasoning.
3. (broadly, figuratively) One who is captious, fallacious, or deceptive in argument.
4. (alt-of, alternative, dated) Alternative form of sophister (“university student who has completed at least one year”).

Synonyms

casuist

quibbler

debater

logician

philosophy

postmodernism

Sophist

controversialist

Translations

Sophist

σοφιστής

sofist

sofista

sofista

sofista

sophiste

casuista

φιλοσοφία

سوفسطائي

Sophistin

Winkeladvokat

σκεπτικό

φιλοσοφία/σκεπτικό

filosofia

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈsɒfɪst/

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin sophista, also sophistes, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek σοφιστής (sophistḗs, “pursuer of wisdom”), from σοφίζομαι (sophízomai, “to become wise”).