Sophist

//ˈsoʊfɪst// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One of a class of teachers of rhetoric, philosophy, and politics in ancient Greece.
  2. 2
    someone whose reasoning is subtle and often specious wordnet
  3. 3
    A teacher who uses plausible but fallacious reasoning. figuratively
  4. 4
    any of a group of Greek philosophers and teachers in the 5th century BC who speculated on a wide range of subjects wordnet
  5. 5
    One who is captious, fallacious, or deceptive in argument. broadly, figuratively

    "[T]hey have acted in this Calumny both the injuſtice of the Tyrant, and the forgery of the Sophiſt."

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  1. 6
    Alternative form of sophister (“university student who has completed at least one year”). alt-of, alternative, dated

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin sophista, also sophistes, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek σοφιστής (sophistḗs, “pursuer of wisdom”), from σοφίζομαι (sophízomai, “to become wise”).

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