fallacy

/ˈfæləsi/

/ˈfæləsi/

Other forms: fallacies

A fallacy is a misleading argument or belief based on a falsehood. If you oppose state testing in schools, you think it is a fallacy that educational quality can be measured by standardized tests.

Fallacy comes from the Latin fallacia, for deceit. It technically means a flaw in an argument that makes it deceptive or misleading. In poetry, the "pathetic fallacy" is the false idea that things like rocks or stars have human feelings (pathos). Fallacy can also be used more generally for any false statement or idea. Some synonyms are misconception and error.

Definitions of fallacy

1. noun

   a misconception resulting from incorrect reasoning
   synonyms: false belief

   types:

   pseudoscience

   an activity resembling science but based on fallacious assumptions

   logical fallacy

   a fallacy in logical argumentation

   pathetic fallacy

   the fallacy of attributing human feelings to inanimate objects; `the friendly sun' is an example of the pathetic fallacy

   sophism, sophistication, sophistry

   a deliberately invalid argument displaying ingenuity in reasoning in the hope of deceiving someone

   paralogism

   an unintentionally invalid argument

   astrology, star divination

   a pseudoscience claiming divination by the positions of the planets and sun and moon

   alchemy

   a pseudoscientific forerunner of chemistry in medieval times

   hysteron proteron

   the logical fallacy of using as a true premise a proposition that is yet to be proved

   ignoratio elenchi

   the logical fallacy of supposing that an argument proving an irrelevant point has proved the point at issue

   petitio, petitio principii

   the logical fallacy of assuming the conclusion in the premises; begging the question

   post hoc, post hoc ergo propter hoc

   the logical fallacy of believing that temporal succession implies a causal relation

   type of:

   misconception

   an incorrect conception