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The Hound of the Baskervilles vocabulary
95 vocabulary words, including people, places, music, artists, etc.
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specious
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synonyms: plausive ???
► definition
Definition:superficially plausible - but actually wrong
► uses
Uses:
But, the theologian proceeds, he must remind his audience that, under the specious pretext of investigating the creation, this man, this pseudo-scientist, was in reality blaspheming the Creator, by contradicting His revealed word, and thus "making Him a liar."
Annie Besant. My Path to Atheism (1885)
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House: And you think one is simpler than two?
Cameron: Pretty sure it is, yeah.
House: Baby shows up. Chase tells you that two people exchanged fluids to create this being. I tell you that one stork dropped the little tyke off in a diaper. Are you gonna go with the two or the one?
Foreman: I think your argument is specious.
David Shore. House, M.D., season 1: Occam's Razor @11:30 (2005)
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He then, by a specious argument, prevented her from going, and so had the chance for which he had waited.
Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
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And although she believed that the iyi-uwa which had been dug up was genuine, she could not ignore the fact that some really evil children sometimes misled people into digging up a specious one.
Chinua Achebe. Things Fall Apart, p.80 (1958)
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She said it was much better to buy a theater than to rent it, because then you escaped the heavy rent. It was specious, but Roland had a dim feeling that there was a flaw somewhere in the reasoning;
P.G. Wodehouse. A Man of Means
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I will take Patriotism first, because it is the most specious of them all, and has still a self-satisfied way of masquerading as a virtue.
Grant Allen. Post-Prandial Philosophy
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On the other hand, it will be equally forgotten that the vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty; that, in the contemplation of a sound and well-informed judgment, their interest can never be separated; and that a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government.
Hamilton, Alexander; Jay, John; Madison, James. The Federalist Papers
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This gives him the specious appearance of a man who was particularly near to unreasoning life— which is a very easy but very bad fallacy.
Leo Tolstoy. War and Peace: With bonus material from Give War and Peace A Chance by Andrew D. Kaufman
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His hesitations were almost always specious.
J.D. Salinger. Franny and Zooey, p.152 (1955)
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