fallacy

Word family

fal·la·cy /ˈfæləsi/ noun (plural fallacies)

1 [countableC]WRONG/INCORRECT a false idea or belief, especially one that a lot of people believe is true 误解，谬见 SYN misconception

It’s a common fallacy that a neutered dog will become fat and lazy.

说阉割过的狗会变得又胖又懒，这是普遍的谬见。

2. [countableC, uncountableU] formalMISTAKE a weakness in someone’s argument or ideas which is caused by a mistake in their thinking 推理谬误 SYN flaw

→ pathetic fallacy

Examples from the Corpus

fallacy• However, the assumption that productivity must be directly related to biomass or chlorophyll is a fallacy.• It is a fallacy to think that the more information an organisation has the better will be the decisions.• It's a fallacy that all fat people are fat simply because they eat too much.• It was essentially a new attempt to revive the Burkeian fallacy of empire through freedom, obedience through liberty.• The idea that a good night's sleep will cure everything is a complete fallacy.• However, it is important immediately to dispose of one popular fallacy.• Don't believe the fallacy that money brings happiness.• This fallacy says that everything that can happen, will happen, given enough time.• This fallacy has snared philosophers from Plato to Leibniz and beyond, and it still snares many major physicists.• The error is in taking the polynomial to be a structural representation of the system, but the basic underlying fallacy remains.

Origin fallacy

(1400-1500) Latin fallacia, from fallere “to deceive”

fal·la·cy noun

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus