What does fallacious mean?
Word: Fallacious
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Fallacious means wrong because it is based on a false idea or on faulty reasoning. It is a formal word, used mostly of arguments and beliefs.
Synonyms: false, unsound
Antonyms: correct
How do you spell fallacious?
Syllables: fal - la - cious
Tricky part: The l is doubled. Students who hear one l sound often write falacious.
Watch out for: falacious, fallachious
Memory tip: A fallacious argument makes your case fall, so begin the word with all four letters of fall, double l included.
Fallacious in a sentence
Example 1: It is fallacious to think that the biggest team always wins.
Example 2: Ravi's reasoning was fallacious: he assumed that because the shop was shut on Monday, it had closed for good.
Example 3: The old belief that the earth is flat was shown to be fallacious long ago.
Fun Fact
It comes from the Latin verb fallere, 'to deceive', which also gave English the words false and fallible.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Insert the correct letters to form a word:
fall_c_ous
a) i, i
b) a, i
c) a, e
d) e, i
Show answer
b) a, i. The stressed vowel is the long a of lay, and the 'shus' ending is spelt cious, as in precious.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters to find the word that fits the sentence:
The claim that goldfish remember things for only three seconds is aulosiclfa, since tests show they can remember for months.
a) fallacious
b) capacious
c) delicious
d) audacious
Show answer
a) fallacious. Only one option has an f, and the jumble has one too: fallacious.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word fallacious as used in the sentence:
Raj's argument that homework is useless turned out to be fallacious once his marks came in.
a) mistaken
b) misleading
c) valid
d) untrue
Show answer
c) valid. A fallacious argument rests on a mistake; a valid one holds up when you test it.
Spell-o-Spell
Read the four words. Choose the meaning of the only correctly spelt word:
1. fallacious 2. evidance 3. assumtion 4. concluzion
a) resting on a false idea or poor reasoning
b) something you accept as true without proof
c) the decision you reach at the end of thinking
d) facts that show whether something is true
Show answer
a) resting on a false idea or poor reasoning. Assumption needs a p, evidence ends in -ence, and conclusion has an s, so only fallacious is spelt right.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which statement is fallacious?
a) All birds can fly because sparrows can.
b) Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius at sea level.
c) A week has seven days in it.
d) New Delhi is the capital of India.
Show answer
a) All birds can fly because sparrows can.
2. If a teacher calls your argument fallacious, you should ____.
a) read it out more loudly in class
b) check your reasoning for a mistake
c) hand it in a day earlier
d) add more pictures to your answer
Show answer
b) check your reasoning for a mistake
