Standard Lemma guide

fallacy

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Australian, Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈfæl.ə.si/
  • California: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • New-Zealand: /ˈfɛl.ə.si/
  • CMU ARPABET: F AE1 L AH0 S IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Deceptive or false appearance; that which misleads the eye or the mind.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: deception, deceitfulness

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, logic, mathematics, philosophy, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: logical fallacy, incorrect argument, misargument, non-argument, pseudoargument

Antonyms: none provided

Narrower terms: formal fallacy, informal fallacy

3

noun

Meaning 3

a misconception resulting from incorrect reasoning

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: false belief

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: misconception

Narrower terms: pseudoscience, logical fallacy, pathetic fallacy, sophism, sophistry, sophistication, paralogism

History

Etymology

From Middle English fallaci, fallace, fallas, from Old French fallace (whence -acy), from Latin fallācia (“deception, deceit”), from fallāx (“deceptive, deceitful”), from fallere (“to deceive”).

Across languages

Translations

75 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: заблуда (zabluda) — deceptive or false appearance
  • Czech: klam — deceptive or false appearance
  • Dutch: bedrieglijkheid — deceptive or false appearance
  • Esperanto: sofismo — deceptive or false appearance
  • Finnish: harha — deceptive or false appearance
  • French: tromperie — deceptive or false appearance
  • German: Täuschung — deceptive or false appearance
  • Greek: πλάνη (pláni) — deceptive or false appearance
  • Hindi: मिथ्या (mithyā) — deceptive or false appearance
  • Hungarian: megtévesztés — deceptive or false appearance
  • Hungarian: félrevezetés — deceptive or false appearance
  • Japanese: いんちき (inchiki) — deceptive or false appearance
  • Japanese: 欺瞞 (giman) — deceptive or false appearance
  • Japanese: 欺騙 (gihen) — deceptive or false appearance
  • Kyrgyz: жаңылыштык (jaŋılıştık) — deceptive or false appearance
  • Kyrgyz: адашуу (adaşuu) — deceptive or false appearance
  • Māori: pōhēhētanga — deceptive or false appearance
  • Polish: błąd logiczny — deceptive or false appearance
  • Portuguese: ilusão — deceptive or false appearance
  • Russian: обма́нчивость (obmánčivostʹ) — deceptive or false appearance
  • Serbo-Croatian: obmana — deceptive or false appearance
  • Swedish: bedräglighet — deceptive or false appearance
  • Turkish: mantıksızlık — deceptive or false appearance
  • Turkish: mugalata — deceptive or false appearance
  • Turkish: yanlış — deceptive or false appearance
  • Turkish: yanlış düşünce — deceptive or false appearance
  • Turkish: yanlış inanış — deceptive or false appearance
  • Turkish: yanılgı — deceptive or false appearance
  • Ukrainian: ома́на (omána) — deceptive or false appearance
  • Urdu: مُغالطَہ (mughalta) — deceptive or false appearance
  • Vietnamese: ngụy biện — deceptive or false appearance
  • Vietnamese: ngộ biện — deceptive or false appearance
  • Arabic: مُغَالَطَة (muḡālaṭa) — false argument
  • Bulgarian: софизъм (sofizǎm) — false argument
  • Catalan: fal·làcia — false argument
  • Chinese Mandarin: 謬誤 /谬误 (miùwù) — false argument
  • Czech: logický klam — false argument
  • Danish: fejlslutning — false argument
  • Dutch: drogreden — false argument
  • Dutch: schijnreden — false argument
  • Dutch: sofisme — false argument
  • Finnish: argumentointivirhe — false argument
  • Finnish: virhepäätelmä — false argument
  • Finnish: virhe — false argument
  • French: sophisme — false argument
  • Galician: falacia — false argument
  • German: Trugschluss — false argument
  • German: Fehlschluss — false argument
  • Ancient Greek: παραλογισμός (paralogismós) — false argument
  • Hindi: मिथ्या (mithyā) — false argument
  • Icelandic: rökvilla — false argument
  • Irish: lúb ar lár — false argument
  • Italian: fallacia — false argument
  • Japanese: 誤謬 (gobyū) — false argument
  • Japanese: 詭弁 (kiben) — false argument
  • Japanese: 迷妄 (meimō) — false argument
  • Macedonian: софизам (sofizam) — false argument
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tankefeil — false argument
  • Polish: sofizmat — false argument
  • Portuguese: falácia — false argument
  • Romanian: sofism — false argument
  • Russian: заблужде́ние (zabluždénije) — false argument
  • Russian: ло́жный вы́вод (lóžnyj vývod) — false argument
  • Russian: софи́зм (sofízm) — false argument
  • Serbo-Croatian: zabluda — false argument
  • Serbo-Croatian: logička pogreška — false argument
  • Spanish: falacia — false argument
  • Swedish: felslut — false argument
  • Tagalog: kasinsayan — false argument
  • Thai: ตรรกวิบัติ (dtàk-gà-wí-bàt) — false argument
  • Turkish: yanılım — false argument
  • Turkish: aldatı — false argument
  • Ukrainian: ома́на (omána) — false argument
  • Vietnamese: ngộ biện — false argument
  • Welsh: camsyniad — false argument