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Of or pertaining to a sophist; embodying sophistry; fallaciously subtile; not sound. His argument . . . is altogether sophistical. Macaulay. -- So*phis"tic*al*ly, adv. -- So*phis"tic*al*ness, n.

r right; supported by justice; not to be overthrown on refuted; not fallacious; as, sound argument or reasoning; a sound objection; sound doctrine; sound principles. Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me. 2 Tim. i. 13.

as, the soundness of timber, of fruit, of the teeth, etc.; the soundness of reasoning or argument; soundness of faith.

leading. Stephen. The phrase is sometimes popularly applied to the specious, but unsound, argumentation of one whose aim is victory, and not truth. Burrill. -- Special property (Law), a qualified or limited ownership possession, as in wild animals, things found or bailed. -- Special session, an extraordinary session;…

o in reality; appearing well at first view; plausible; as, specious reasoning; a specious argument. Misled for a moment by the specious names of religion, liberty, and property. Macaulay. In consequence of their greater command of specious expression. J. Morley.

business staid me in London almost a week. Evelyn. I was willing to stay my reader on an argument that appeared to me new. Locke.

ake hard or strong; hence, to make insensible or obdurate. Lies well steeled with weighty arguments. Shak. O God of battles! steel my soldier's hearts. Shak. Why will you fight against so sweet a passion, And steel your heart to such a world of charms Addison.

obstinate; pertinacious; as, a stiff adversary. It is a shame to stand stiff in a foolish argument. Jer. Taylor. A war ensues: the Cretans own their cause, Stiff to defend their hospitable laws. Dryden.

llect; obtuseness; stupidity. Indocile, intractable fools, whose stolidity can baffle all arguments, and be proof against demonstration itself. Bentley.

s; the strength of law; the strength of public opinion; strength of evidence; strength of argument.

s, a string of shells or beads; a string of dried apples; a string of houses; a string of arguments. "A string of islands." Gibbon.

r imagination; striking or superior of the kind; powerful; forcible; cogent; as, a strong argument; strong reasons; strong evidence; a strong example; strong language.

To overcome, as by persuasion or other mild means; as, to subdue opposition by argument or entreaties.

To add after something else has been said or written; to ANNEX; as, to subjoin an argument or reason.

orts for escape or concealment; an artifice employed to escape censure or the force of an argument, or to justify opinions or conduct; a shift; an evasion. Affect not little shifts and subterfuges, to avoid the force of an argument. I. Watts. By a miserable subterfuge, they hope to render this position safe by renderin…

To refine; to spin into niceties; as, to subtilize arguments. Nor as yet have we subtilized ourselves into savages. Burke.

; useless; excessive; as, a superfluous price. Shak. An authority which makes all further argument or illustration superfluous. E. Everett. Superfluous interval (Mus.), an interval that exceeds a major or perfect interval by a semitone.

on; to enable to continue; to maintain; as, to support a war or a contest; to support an argument or a debate.

hich the reality would involve or admit of; to imagine or admit to exist, for the sake of argument or illustration; to assume to be true; as, let us suppose the earth to be the center of the system, what would be the result Suppose they take offence without a cause. Shak. When we have as great assurance that a thing is…

Disgust caused by excess; satiety. Sir P. Sidney. Matter and argument have been supplied abundantly, and even to surfeit. Burke.