Synonyms for specious
- adjective
Most common
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
2. Meretricious — having an attractive appearance intended to generate a favorable response; deceptively attractive
3. Fallacious
4. Plausible
plausible, colorable US, colourable UK, ostensible, seeming, apparent
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Having an attractive appearance intended to generate a favorable response; deceptively attractive.
- adj. 2
Seemingly well-reasoned, plausible or true, but actually fallacious.
This idea that we must see through what we have started is specious, however good it may sound.
- adj. 3
Employing fallacious but deceptively plausible arguments; deceitful.
- adj. 4
Rich in species, such as when many species are members of a single genus.
Related words
- Word family
- speciousness speciosity
- Other spellings
- speciose
Example sentences
- pretextual He fired me and offered a pretextual rationale for the firing.
- fallacious Her line of reasoning is attractive, but ultimately fallacious.
- plausible I still think that that's the most plausible reason.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| specious | falling | |
| meretricious | falling | |
| pretextual | rising | |
| fallacious | falling | |
| plausible | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 5 letters
- false1, showy2
- 6 letters
- glossy2, gilded2, tinsel2
- 7 letters
- colored2, seeming2
- 8 letters
- apparent3, coloured2, spurious3
- 9 letters
- plausible3, deceptive3, insincere3, colorable
- 10 letters
- fallacious3, ostensible4, pretextual, colourable
- 12 letters
- meretricious
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (showy2 = 2 syllables).