noun · 6 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
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/ˈsɔfɪzəm/
British, Southern, Standard:[ˈsɔfɪzəm]
General-American:[ˈsɑfɪzəm]
General-American:[-ɪm]
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
1
noun
Meaning 1
The school of the sophists in antiquity; their beliefs and method of teaching philosophy and rhetoric.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: sophistic
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A flawed argument, superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: sophistry, quibbling, pilpul, pilpulism
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
An intentional fallacy.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
Sophistic, fallacious reasoning or argumentation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Examples
30 Oct 1980, H. Dieter Zeh, letter to John Archibald Wheeler. I expect that the Copenhagen interpretation will some time be called the greatest sophism in the history of science, but I would consider it a terrible injustice if—when some day a solution should be found—some people claim that ‘this is of course what Bohr always meant’, only because he was sufficiently vague.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: sophistry, quibbling, pilpul, pilpulism
Antonyms: none provided
5
noun
Meaning 5
Archaic spelling of Sufism.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, archaic, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
6
noun
Meaning 6
a deliberately invalid argument displaying ingenuity in reasoning in the hope of deceiving someone
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: sophistry, sophistication
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: fallacy, false belief
History
Etymology
From Middle English sophim, from Old French soffime, sofime, sofisme, sophisme, from Latin sophisma (“fallacy, sophism”), from Ancient Greek σόφῐσμᾰ (sóphĭsmă), from σοφίζω (sophízō) + -μα (-ma).
Across languages
Translations
33 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Catalan:
sofisma
— method of teaching
Finnish:
sofistiikka
— method of teaching
French:
sophisme
— method of teaching
Portuguese:
sofisma
— method of teaching
Romanian:
sofistică
— method of teaching
Sicilian:
sufìstica
— method of teaching
Arabic:
سَفْسَطَة
(safsaṭa)
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Arabic:
مُغَالَطَة
(muḡālaṭa)
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Armenian:
սոփեստաբանություն
(sopʻestabanutʻyun)
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Catalan:
sofisma
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Chinese Mandarin:
詭辯 /诡辩
(guǐbiàn)
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Czech:
sofisma
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Dutch:
sofisme
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Dutch:
drogreden
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
French:
sophisme
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
German:
Sophismus
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Greek:
σόφισμα
(sófisma)
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Greek:
σοφιστεία
(sofisteía)
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Ancient Greek:
σόφισμα
(sóphisma)
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Italian:
sofisma
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Japanese:
詭弁
(kiben)
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Macedonian:
софизам
(sofizam)
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Malayalam:
കുതർക്കം
(kutaṟkkaṁ)
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Malayalam:
കള്ളന്യായം
(kaḷḷanyāyaṁ)
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Polish:
sofizmat
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Polish:
sofizm
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Portuguese:
sofisma
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Romanian:
sofism
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Russian:
софи́зм
(sofízm)
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Sicilian:
fìsima
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Spanish:
sofisma
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Spanish:
sofismo
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
Ukrainian:
софі́зм
(sofízm)
— flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive
