Word: fallacious (adjective)

Associations

The word "fallacious" means something that is wrong or based on a mistake, especially an idea or argument that seems true but is actually false.

• "His argument was fallacious because it ignored important facts." Here, it means the argument is misleading.
• "She made a fallacious assumption about the situation." This means her assumption was incorrect.
• "The advertisement uses fallacious claims to sell the product." This means the claims are deceptive or untrue.

A well-known synonym is "false," but "fallacious" is often used for ideas, reasoning, or arguments that are logically incorrect, not just simply untrue. "False" can be used more broadly for anything untrue.

Substitution

You can replace "fallacious" with:

• misleading (if you want to emphasize deception)
• incorrect (more general)
• erroneous (formal, meaning containing errors) Each word changes the tone slightly:
• "misleading" suggests intention to deceive,
• "incorrect" is neutral,
• "erroneous" is more formal and technical.

Deconstruction

• Root: "fallac-" comes from Latin "fallacia," meaning deception or trick.
• Suffix: "-ious" means "full of" or "having the quality of." So, "fallacious" literally means "full of deception" or "tending to deceive."

Inquiry

• Can you think of a time when you believed something fallacious? What was it?
• How can you tell if an argument is fallacious or not?
• Why is it important to recognize fallacious reasoning in everyday life?