Soph"ist*ry (?), n. [OE. sophistrie, OF. sophisterie.]
1.
The art or process of reasoning; logic.
[Obs.]
2.
The practice of a sophist; fallacious reasoning; reasoning sound in appearance only.
The juggle of sophistry consists, for the most part, in using a word in one sense in the premise, and in another sense in the conclusion.
Coleridge.
Syn. -- See Fallacy.
© Webster 1913.