Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to casuists or casuistry.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to casuists or casuistry; relating to cases of conscience, or to doubts concerning conduct; hence, over-subtle; intellectually dishonest; sophistical.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to casuists or casuistry.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Relating to casuistry (attempts to solve moral dilemmas by applying general rules).
  • adjective Overly subtle, hair-splitting.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to the use of ethical principles to resolve moral problems
  • adjective of or relating to or practicing casuistry

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

casuist +‎ -ic.

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Examples

  • H.W. Fowler wrote about them incisively in his 1926 Dictionary of Modern English Usage, though most of the specific words he considered — such as casuistic and casuistical, diabolic and diabolical — don’t trouble us anymore.

    Word Court 2007

  • H.W. Fowler wrote about them incisively in his 1926 Dictionary of Modern English Usage, though most of the specific words he considered — such as casuistic and casuistical, diabolic and diabolical — don’t trouble us anymore.

    Word Court 2007

  • One additional note, though -- please do not write me e-mails asking casuistic questions about whether or not it's okay to read something or other during Lent (I've gotten a few in the past).

    2010 Lenten Read-a-Thon 2010

  • One additional note, though -- please do not write me e-mails asking casuistic questions about whether or not it's okay to read something or other during Lent (I've gotten a few in the past).

    Archive 2010-02-01 2010

  • Logical arguments have attacked war since the dawn of time, yet war has always had its casuistic defenders.

    Making Real Peace with the Spirit of John F. Kennedy 2010

  • Logical arguments have attacked war since the dawn of time, yet war has always had its casuistic defenders.

    David Vognar: Making Real Peace with the Spirit of John F. Kennedy 2010

  • But this is all pretty casuistic: We move from case to case without direct consideration of what the objectionable features of adultery are.

    Porndultery 2008

  • At least Kant had the virtue of rigid consistency and did not make casuistic exceptions.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » It’s Official: Kinder, Gentler Military Commissions: 2009

  • As to the last charge advanced by Draper, that Castro betrayed the original ideals of the Cuban revolution, the defense of Professor Williams is either weak or casuistic.

    The Great San Francisco Poetry Wars, 9 2009

  • The idea that this is all a response to the post 9/11 policies, with all their corkscrew-like bends, is casuistic, to put it mildly.

    Who is to run our foreign policy? Helen 2006

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