specious
UK/ˈspiːʃəs//ˈspiːʃəs/
specious adjective: seemingly well-reasoned, plausible or true, but actually fallacious. Also the alternative form of speciose.
Adjective
specious (comparative more specious, superlative most specious)
- Seemingly well-reasoned, plausible or true, but actually fallacious.
- This idea that we must see through what we have started is specious, however good it may sound.
- now to the discourse itself, voluble enough, and full of sentence, but that, for the most part, either specious rather than solid, or to his cause nothing pertinent.1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- fallacious
- Employing fallacious but deceptively plausible arguments; deceitful.
- With early virtues plant your breaſt, / The ſpecious arts of vice deteſt.1727, [John] Gay, “Fable I. The Lyon, the Tyger, and the Traveller.”, in Fables, 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] J[acob] Tonson and J. Watts, published 1728, →OCLC, page 1
- But a third cause of the delusion is, that the Church of Rome has become more specious and deceitful than before the Reformation.1829, William Phelan, Mortimer O'Sullivan, “Ireland: A digest taken before Select Committees of the two Houses of Parliament, appointed to inquire into the State of Ireland, 1824—25”, in The...
- Having an attractive appearance intended to generate a favorable response; deceptively attractive.
- And could any thing be more ſpecious, or more equal, than that fair diſtribution of power and profit, which men called the NEW MODEL?1760, William Warburton, The Lord Bishop of Gloucester's Sermon Preached Before the Right Honourable the House of Lords, January 30, 1760, page 19
- [T]he success of Trajan, however transient, was rapid and specious. The degenerate Parthians, broken by intestine discord, fled before his arms.1776, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol I, ch 1-pt i
- Synonyms:
- meretricious, pretextual
- Beautiful, pleasing to look at.
Also used as
specious is also the alternative form of speciose.
Examples of specious in a sentence
- I have frequently amused myself both in public and private companies, with silently remarking, the specious errors of those who speak without reflecting.1776, Thomas Paine, Common Sense:
- This argument, though specious, will not, upon examination, be found solid.1788, Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 59:
Synonyms of specious
Forms of specious
| comparative | more specious |
|---|---|
| superlative | most specious |
Origin of specious
From Middle English speciose, specious, from Anglo-Norman specious, Middle French specieux, and their etymon Latin speciōsus (“good-looking”).
From speci(es) + -ous.
Words formed from specious
- speciously
- speciousness
- specious present
- specious tiger
Words that rhyme with specious
Questions about specious
- What does specious mean?
- Specious means seemingly well-reasoned, plausible or true, but actually fallacious.
- How do you use specious in a sentence?
- I have frequently amused myself both in public and private companies, with silently remarking, the specious errors of those who speak without reflecting.
- What part of speech is specious?
- Specious is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce specious?
- Specious is pronounced /ˈspiːʃəs/ (UK).
Words near specious in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: specious (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-specious.ogg.
Cite this entry: “specious.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/specious. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.