Associations to the word «Sophist»

Wiktionary

SOPHIST, noun. One of a class of teachers of rhetoric, philosophy, and politics in ancient Greece.
SOPHIST, noun. (loosely) A teacher who used plausible but fallacious reasoning.
SOPHIST, noun. (loosely) (by extension) One who is captious, fallacious, or deceptive in argument.

Dictionary definition

SOPHIST, noun. Any of a group of Greek philosophers and teachers in the 5th century BC who speculated on a wide range of subjects.
SOPHIST, noun. Someone whose reasoning is subtle and often specious.

Wise words

Words are always getting conventionalized to some secondary meaning. It is one of the works of poetry to take the truants in custody and bring them back to their right senses.
William Butler Yeats