Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In a specious manner; with an appearance of fairness or of reality; with show of right: as, to reason speciously.

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

  • adverb In a specious manner; fallaciously, erroneously.

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

  • adverb in a specious manner

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

specious +‎ -ly

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Examples

  • He calls speciously by the mildest of names the birth of the soul that has come from elsewhere a living in a strange country.

    Plutarch's Morals 46-120? Plutarch

  • The American asks me what I do for a living, and I say, speciously, that I write about art, mostly younger artists.

    Down and Delirious in Mexico City Daniel Hernandez 2011

  • A right-wing think tank that questions the reality of climate change is speciously claiming that a study of gasoline taxes in South Carolina and New York is an honest analysis of a greenhouse pollution plan in the Rocky Mountain states.

    Wonk Room » Adirondack Mountain High? New Attack On Western Climate Initiative Uses New York To Stand In For Colorado 2009

  • Brown and Clegg at least aver that the Treaty is in the UK's interest and can thus, however speciously, justify their disgraceful conduct.

    Tory Dishonour 2009

  • The American asks me what I do for a living, and I say, speciously, that I write about art, mostly younger artists.

    Down and Delirious in Mexico City Daniel Hernandez 2011

  • Brown and Clegg at least aver that the Treaty is in the UK's interest and can thus, however speciously, justify their disgraceful conduct.

    Archive 2009-06-14 2009

  • Lionel Tiger may know his ground-living apes, but their monkey-see/monkey-do he speciously and simplistically applies to the Facebook phenomenon "Zuckerberg: The World's Richest Primatologist," op-ed, Feb. 6.

    Zuckerberg, Primates and Thoreau 2012

  • The American asks me what I do for a living, and I say, speciously, that I write about art, mostly younger artists.

    Down and Delirious in Mexico City Daniel Hernandez 2011

  • Despite the well-established fact that al-Qaida attacked the United States because of its grievances against the U.S. for its intervention in the Middle East and support for Israel, and not due to jealousy or hate of freedom, or tolerance, patience, multiculturalism, civil rights, or political correctness, right-wing ideologues speciously pinned the blame on liberalism and Islam.

    Azam Nizamuddin: Why The Right Is Wrong On Ft. Hood 2010

  • At the same time, the report appears crafted to prevent articulate Palestinian critics of Israeli policy like Ali Abunimah from gaining mainstream traction, speciously and scandalously conflating them with neo-Nazi street thugs and Holocaust deniers.

    Major Israeli Anti-Semitism Report Conflates Goldstone, Critics of Gaza War With Violent Thugs 2010

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