FALLACY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does fallacy mean? 

• FALLACY (noun)
  The noun FALLACY has 1 sense:

1. a misconception resulting from incorrect reasoning

  Familiarity information: FALLACY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FALLACY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A misconception resulting from incorrect reasoning

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

fallacy; false belief

Hypernyms ("fallacy" is a kind of...):

misconception (an incorrect conception)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fallacy"):

pseudoscience (an activity resembling science but based on fallacious assumptions)

logical fallacy (a fallacy in logical argumentation)

pathetic fallacy (the fallacy of attributing human feelings to inanimate objects; 'the friendly sun' is an example of the pathetic fallacy)

sophism; sophistication; sophistry (a deliberately invalid argument displaying ingenuity in reasoning in the hope of deceiving someone)

paralogism (an unintentionally invalid argument)

Derivation:

fallacious (containing or based on a fallacy)

 Context examples 

“Admirable!” he said. “A most illuminating remark. It is impossible as I state it, and therefore I must in some respect have stated it wrong. Yet you saw for yourself. Can you suggest any fallacy?”

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His life is a mystery to the partner of his joys and sorrows—I again allude to his wife—and if I should assure you that beyond knowing that it is passed from morning to night at the office, I now know less of it than I do of the man in the south, connected with whose mouth the thoughtless children repeat an idle tale respecting cold plum porridge, I should adopt a popular fallacy to express an actual fact.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

'Challenger, George Edward. Born: Largs, N. B., 1863. Educ.: Largs Academy; Edinburgh University. British Museum Assistant, 1892. Assistant-Keeper of Comparative Anthropology Department, 1893. Resigned after acrimonious correspondence same year. Winner of Crayston Medal for Zoological Research. Foreign Member of'—well, quite a lot of things, about two inches of small type—'Societe Belge, American Academy of Sciences, La Plata, etc., etc. Ex-President Palaeontological Society. Section H, British Association'—so on, so on!—'Publications: Some Observations Upon a Series of Kalmuck Skulls; Outlines of Vertebrate Evolution; and numerous papers, including The underlying fallacy of Weissmannism, which caused heated discussion at the Zoological Congress of Vienna. Recreations: Walking, Alpine climbing. Address: Enmore Park, Kensington, W.' There, take it with you.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)