sophistry.

Reasoning that appears clever or convincing but relies on misleading or invalid distinctions.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• political sophistry
• mere sophistry

On the page

The response substitutes sophistry for an answer to the evidence.

Usage notes

Primary category: analysis / argumentation / evidence. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: argumentation, evidence, inference. Commonness: moderately common.