Specious

Quick meaning: Specious is an adjective meaning Seemingly well-reasoned, plausible or true, but actually fallacious.

Meaning

Seemingly well-reasoned, plausible or true, but actually fallacious.

More Meanings

1. Employing fallacious but deceptively plausible arguments; deceitful.
2. Having an attractive appearance intended to generate a favorable response; deceptively attractive.
3. Alternative form of speciose (“rich in species”).
4. (obsolete) Beautiful, pleasing to look at.

Example Sentences

With early virtues plant your breaſt, / The ſpecious arts of vice deteſt.

This idea that we must see through what we have started is specious, however good it may sound.

But a third cause of the delusion is, that the Church of Rome has become more specious and deceitful than before the Reformation.

And could any thing be more ſpecious, or more equal, than that fair diſtribution of power and profit, which men called the NEW MODEL?

Synonyms for specious

Depending on context, synonyms include fallacious, meretricious, pretextual, gilded, spurious, insincere.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include insincere, spurious, meretricious, false, invalid, gilded.

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