noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A fallacious argument or illogical conclusion, especially one committed by mistake, or believed by the speaker to be logical.

   "Which is a Paralogism not admittible; a fallacy that dwels not in a cloud, and needs not the Sun to scatter it."

2. 2
   an unintentionally invalid argument wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

argumentargument by analogyargumentum ad baculumargumentum ad captandumargumentum ad hominemaristotelian sorites

Example

More examples

"Which is a Paralogism not admittible; a fallacy that dwels not in a cloud, and needs not the Sun to scatter it."

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French paralogisme, from Late Latin paralogismus, from Ancient Greek παραλογισμός (paralogismós).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.