Casuist
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A person who resolves cases of conscience or moral duty.
- 2 someone whose reasoning is subtle and often specious wordnet
- 3 Someone who attempts to specify exact and precise rules for the direction of every circumstance of behaviour.
"Something, indeed, not unlike the doctrine of the caſuiſts, ſeems to have been attempted by ſeveral philoſophers. There is ſomething of this kind in the third book of Cicero's offices, where he endeavours like a caſuiſt to give rules for our conduct in many nice caſes, in which it is difficult to determine whereabouts the point of propriety may lie."
- 4 One who is skilled in, or given to, casuistry.
"The judgment of any casuist or learned divine concerning the state of a man's soul, is not sufficient to give him confidence."
Example
More examples"Something, indeed, not unlike the doctrine of the caſuiſts, ſeems to have been attempted by ſeveral philoſophers. There is ſomething of this kind in the third book of Cicero's offices, where he endeavours like a caſuiſt to give rules for our conduct in many nice caſes, in which it is difficult to determine whereabouts the point of propriety may lie."
Etymology
From French casuiste, from Spanish casuista, from Latin casus (“case”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.