specious

[spee-shuhs]

adjective

1. apparently good or right though lacking real merit; superficially pleasing or plausible.

   specious arguments.

   Antonyms: genuine

2. pleasing to the eye but deceptive.

   Synonyms: misleading, false
   Antonyms: genuine

3. Obsolete.,  pleasing to the eye; fair.

specious

/ ˈspiːʃəs /

adjective

1. apparently correct or true, but actually wrong or false

2. deceptively attractive in appearance

Other Word Forms

• speciousness noun
• speciously adverb
• nonspecious adjective
• nonspeciously adverb
• nonspeciousness noun
• unspecious adjective
• unspeciously adverb
• unspeciousness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of specious¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin speciōsus “fair, good-looking, beautiful,” equivalent to speci(ēs) ( species ) + -ōsus adjective suffix; -ous

Word History and Origins

Origin of specious¹

C14 (originally: fair): from Latin speciōsus plausible, from speciēs outward appearance, from specere to look at

Synonym Study

See plausible.

Example Sentences

He also accused the businessman of "resorting to all sorts of specious legal twists" and claimed he should "start behaving respectfully".

From BBC

ABC, the president of ABC News was no doubt opposed to caving to Trump on his specious claim.

From Salon

Nor do a publisher’s specious appeals to us based on bothsiderism in an existential election.

From Salon

And as they did in 2020, Trump’s agents and allies are already preparing to flood the courts with specious lawsuits to stop Kamala Harris from assuming office if she wins the 2024 election.

From Salon

Kevin Maher of the Times called the film "puerile, pointless and intellectually specious", noting that some audience members walked out of the Cannes Film Festival screening.

From BBC

Related Words

• deceptive 
• erroneous 
• false 
• inaccurate 
• incorrect 
• plausible 
• spurious 
• untrue