Words / C / General

casuistry

noun/ˈkazjʊɪstri/

C2CEFR level
85/100Rarity: very rare
FormalRegister

Clever but unsound reasoning, especially about moral questions.

His defence of the fraud was a masterpiece of casuistry that convinced no one.

Similar: sophistry, chicanery, quibbling

Origin: From Latin casus 'case', via the resolution of cases of conscience.

Topic: specious reasoning in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

Get words like casuistry on your lock screen, a few a day, with review that makes them stick.

Download on the App Store Lexfall puts a new word on your home and lock screen through widgets, so you learn without opening an app. Free to download. After a free trial, a subscription unlocks every field. Built for iPhone, iOS 15.1 or later.
QR code that opens Lexfall on the App Store
On a computer?Scan with your iPhone camera.