See Also: sophist(dictionary)

sophist (iou)



sophist noun. LME.
[Latin sophista, -tes from Greek sophistes, from sophizesthai: see SOPHISM, -IST.]
In ancient Greece, a scholar, a teacher; spec. a paid teacher of philosophy and rhetoric, esp. one associated with specious reasoning and moral scepticism; gen. (now rare) a wise or learned person. Now, a person using clever but fallacious arguments; a specious reasoner, a casuist.