casuistry.

1. Reasoning about moral questions through the details of particular cases.

2. Clever or excessively subtle reasoning used to justify or obscure a questionable conclusion.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• moral casuistry
• case-based casuistry

On the page

The debate turned to casuistry when the general rule failed to resolve the case.

She studied the casuistry behind the confession before judging its author.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.