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adjective

Specious adj.

Presenting a pleasing appearance; pleasing in form or look; showy. "Some (serpents) specious and beautiful to the eye." "The rest, far greater part, Will deem in outward rites and specious forms Religion satisfied."

Apparently right; superficially fair, just, or correct, but not so in reality; appearing well at first view; plausible; as, specious reasoning; a specious argument. "Misled for a moment by the specious names of religion, liberty, and property." "In consequence of their greater command of specious expression."

Synonyms: Plausible; showy; ostensible; colorable; feasible. See Plausible.

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Etymology of 'Specious'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Specious" Quotes from Famous Books

... flight, Or they themselves clandestinely contrive it. 'Tis rumor'd that the ship which brought them here Is lurking somewhere in a bay conceal'd. This stranger's madness, these new lustral rites, The specious pretext for delay, excite Mistrust, and call aloud ...

— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, • Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke

... recent shock, he hurried him away to my house to supper; and there we comforted him as well as we could. He came to consult me about a change of catastrophe; but alas! the piece was condemned long before that crisis. I at first humoured him with a specious proposition, but have since joined his true friends in advising him to give it up. He did it with a pang, and is ...

— The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Vol. 5 • Edited by E. V. Lucas

... shepherd that carols to the rising day. I had not then been thus entangled in misfortune, thus every way closed in to remediless despair. I had not then been a monument of impotence and misery for the world to gaze at. Ye are all combined against me! Under a specious, smiling countenance you all conceal a heart of gall. But your hypocrisy and your mummery shall serve you to little purpose. Point me, this instant point me, to a path for the gratification of my wishes, or dearly shall you rue the shallowness of your invention ...

— Imogen - A Pastoral Romance • William Godwin

... leaving to herself then, as now, the entire responsibility of rejecting the advice which he might say, without vanity, was deemed of some value by those who could distinguish between sterling qualities and specious pretences. ...

— A Strange Story, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... woman can be, literally broke her into Romanism, treated her like a servant, made her groom the horses, and comb the maid's hair, and when all these efforts failed, sent her to a convent to be finished off. The nuns did by specious reasoning what had been begun by persecution, and young Francoise, at the time she was introduced to Scarron, was a highly respectable member of 'the only ...

— The Wits and Beaux of Society - Volume 1 • Grace Wharton and Philip Wharton

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