fallacy

English

Etymology

From Middle English [Term?], from Old French fallace, from Latin fallacia (“deception, deceit”), from fallax (“deceptive, deceitful”), from fallere (“to deceive”).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfæləsi/
Audio (US) (file)

Noun

fallacy (plural fallacies)

Deceptive or false appearance; that which misleads the eye or the mind.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292:
  Mr Jones expressed great gratitude to the lady for the kind intentions towards him which she had expressed, and indeed testified, by this proposal; but, besides intimating some diffidence of success from the lady’s knowledge of his love to her niece, which had not been her case in regard to Mr Fitzpatrick, he said, he was afraid Miss Western would never agree to an imposition of this kind, as well from her utter detestation of all fallacy as from her avowed duty to her aunt.
- 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), OCLC 630079698, pages 108–109:
  I no longer believe in happiness, because I see the fallacy of my first belief; and the examination which that induced, has shewn me the fallacy of all. Shew me a heart without its hidden wound.
Synonyms: deception, deceitfulness
(logic) An argument, or apparent argument, which professes to be decisive of the matter at issue, while in reality it is not; a specious argument.
- 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 163:
  Baldridge also showed the "one molecule of blood," usually held to be the stimulus for attracting sharks, to be another common fallacy, since a molecule of blood does not exist.
Synonyms: logical fallacy; see also Thesaurus:incorrect argument
Hyponyms: formal fallacy, informal fallacy

Derived terms

apex fallacy
bandwagon fallacy
base rate fallacy
black swan fallacy
conceptual fallacy
counterfallacy
ethnocentric fallacy
fallacious
fallacy fallacy
fallacy of composition
formal fallacy
gambler's fallacy
genetic fallacy
informal fallacy
just-world fallacy
logical fallacy
ludic fallacy
masked man fallacy
Monte Carlo fallacy
naturalistic fallacy
nirvana fallacy
no true Scotsman fallacy
pathetic fallacy
sunk costs fallacy
Texas sharpshooter fallacy
toupee fallacy

Related terms

fail
fallible

Translations

deceptive or false appearance

Bulgarian: заблуда (bg) f (zabluda)
Czech: klam m
Dutch: bedrieglijkheid (nl)
Esperanto: sofismo
French: tromperie (fr) f
German: Täuschung (de) f
Greek: πλάνη (el) f (pláni)
Hungarian: megtévesztés (hu), félrevezetés (hu)
Japanese: いんちき (ja) (inchiki), 欺瞞 (ja) (giman), 欺騙 (ja) (gihen)
Kyrgyz: жаңылыштык (ky) (jaŋılıştık), адашуу (ky) (adaşuu)
Maori: pōhēhētanga
Polish: błąd logiczny m
Portuguese: ilusão (pt) f
Russian: обма́нчивость (ru) f (obmánčivostʹ)
Serbo-Croatian: obmana (sh)
Swedish: bedräglighet (sv)
Turkish: mantıksızlık (tr), mugalata (tr), yanlış (tr), yanlış düşünce, yanlış inanış, yanılgı (tr)
Ukrainian: ома́на (uk) f (omána)
Urdu: مُغالطَہ‎ (mughalta)
Vietnamese: ngụy biện (vi), ngộ biện

false argument

Arabic: مُغَالَطَة‎ (ar) f (muḡālaṭa)
Bulgarian: софизъм (bg) n (sofizǎm)
Catalan: fal·làcia (ca) f
Czech: logický klam m
Danish: fejlslutning c
Dutch: drogreden (nl) m or f, schijnreden f, sofisme (nl) n
Finnish: argumentointivirhe (fi)
French: sophisme (fr) m
Galician: falacia f
German: Trugschluss (de) m, Fehlschluss (de) m
Greek:
Ancient Greek: παραλογισμός m (paralogismós)
Icelandic: rökvilla f
Italian: fallacia (it) f
Japanese: 誤謬 (ja) (ごびゅう, gobyū), 詭弁 (ja) (kiben), 迷妄 (meimō)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: tankefeil m
Polish: sofizmat m
Portuguese: falácia (pt) f
Russian: заблужде́ние (ru) n (zabluždénije), ло́жный вы́вод m (lóžnyj vývod), софи́зм (ru) m (sofízm)
Serbo-Croatian: zabluda (sh), logička pogreška
Spanish: falacia (es) f
Swedish: felslut (sv) n
Tagalog: kasinsayan
Thai: ตรรกวิบัติ (dtàk-gà-wí-bàt)
Turkish: yanılım, aldatı (tr)
Ukrainian: ома́на (uk) f (omána)
Vietnamese: ngộ biện