elenchus

[ ih-leng-kuhs ]

noun

, plural e·len·chi [ih-, leng, -kahy, -kee].

1. a logical refutation; an argument that refutes another argument by proving the contrary of its conclusion.

elenchus

/ ɪˈlɛŋkəs /

noun

1. refutation of an argument by proving the contrary of its conclusion, esp syllogistically
2. Socratic elenchus
   the drawing out of the consequences of a position in order to show them to be contrary to some accepted position

Word History and Origins

Origin of elenchus¹

1655–65; < Latin < Greek élenchos refutation

Word History and Origins

Origin of elenchus¹

C17: from Latin, from Greek elenkhos refutation, from elenkhein to put to shame, refute

Example Sentences

Wallis’s Elenchus geometriae Hobbianae, published in 1655 about three months after the De corpore, contained also an elaborate criticism of Hobbes’s whole attempt to relay the foundations of mathematical science in its place within the general body of reasoned knowledge—a criticism which, if it failed to allow for the merit of the conception, exposed only too effectually the utter inadequacy of the result.

From Project Gutenberg

Swift as before to strike, in three months’ time he had deftly turned his own word against the would-be master by administering Due Correction for Mr Hobbes, or School Discipline for not saying his Lessons right, in a piece that differed from the Elenchus only in being more biting and unrestrained.

From Project Gutenberg

In Hegel's own phrase, it is an immanent and an incessant dialectic, which from first to last allows finality to no dogmatic rest, but carries out Kant's description of an Age of Criticism, in which nothing, however majestic and sacred its authority, can plead for exception from the all-testing Elenchus.

From Project Gutenberg

Elench, e-lengk′, Elenchus, e-lengk′us, n. refutation: a sophism.—adjs.

From Project Gutenberg

He settled at Colchester, but, instead of confining himself to his profession, entered keenly into theological controversy, and was condemned by the Star Chamber for his books against Prelacy: Elenchus Religionis Papistic�, Flagellum Pontificis, and The Letanie of Dr. J. Bastwick.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• rebuttal