Phrase guide

toupee fallacy

noun · 1 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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1

noun

Meaning 1

A form of selection bias in which a thing whose quality is measured in terms of being difficult to detect is wrongly judged to be of poor quality in general, caused by the fact that most people only notice poor-quality instances of it.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

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

Examples

  • Not all toupees are bad, but you only spot the bad toupees. That's the toupee fallacy.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

In reference to the conventional wisdom that all toupees look bad, caused by the fact that good quality toupees are usually not noticed.