Fallacious

Practice This Word

Deceptive; based on or characterized by a fallacy; likely to mislead.

adjective

Fallacious

Deceptive; based on or characterized by a fallacy; likely to mislead.

adjective

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Imagine This

The scam artists pretended to be tour guides and made the tourists follow them into an alley, where they were robbed.

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Sounds Like

fuh-LAY-shuhs

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Looks Like

fal-LAY-shuss

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Remember This

The root 'fall-' comes from fallere, meaning 'to deceive'; a fallacy is a mistaken argument that seems plausible.

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Other Forms

fallacynoun

fallaciouslyadverb

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Connect With

specious, misleading, deception, faulty reasoning, logical fallacy, spurious

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Note

Fallacious describes reasoning, not merely a fact that is false. Do not confuse with 'false' or 'falsifiable' in scientific contexts; 'fallacy' is a flawed line of reasoning.

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Study Deeper

Examples

The argument was fallacious, relying on an appeal to emotion rather than evidence.
Claiming that the product cures all illnesses is fallacious and misleads consumers.

Synonyms

speciousdeceptivemisleadingspuriousfaulty

Antonyms

soundvalidlogicalreasonable

Etymology

From Latin fallax, fallac-, meaning 'deceitful,' from fallere 'to deceive.' The term entered English via Old French and Middle English.

Mnemonic

Think: fall for a fallacy. If you might fall for a deceit, it's fallacious.