different between specious vs nugatory

English

Etymology

From Latin speci?sus (“good-looking”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?spi???s/
• Rhymes: -i???s

Adjective

specious (comparative more specious, superlative most specious)

1. Seemingly well-reasoned, plausible or true, but actually fallacious.

   Synonyms: fallacious, insincere

   • 1649, John Milton, Eikonoklastes:

     now to the discourse itself, voluble enough, and full of sentence, but that, for the most part, either specious rather than solid, or to his cause nothing pertinent.
2. Employing fallacious but deceptively plausible arguments; deceitful.
   • 1829, William Phelan, Mortimer O'Sullivan, Ireland: A digest taken before Select Committees of the two Houses of Parliament, appointed to inquire into the State of Ireland, 1824—25, in The Christian Review and Clerical Magazine, Volume III, page 472,

     But a third cause of the delusion is, that the Church of Rome has become more specious and deceitful than before the Reformation.

3. Having an attractive appearance intended to generate a favorable response; deceptively attractive.

   Synonyms: meretricious, pretextual

   • 1760, William Warburton, The Lord Bishop of Gloucester's Sermon Preached Before the Right Honourable the House of Lords, January 30, 1760, page 19,

     And could any thing be more ?pecious, or more equal, than that fair di?tribution of power and profit, which men called the NEW MODEL?

   • 1788, Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 59

     This argument, though specious, will not, upon examination, be found solid.

4. (obsolete) Beautiful, pleasing to look at.

Derived terms

• specious present
• specious tiger (Asota speciosa, a species of moth)

Related terms

• speciosity
• speciously
• speciousness

Translations

See also

• spurious

Anagrams

• cosies up

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin n?g?t?rius

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?nju???t??i/

Adjective

nugatory (comparative more nugatory, superlative most nugatory)

1. Trivial, trifling or of little importance.
   • 1872, Benjamin Disraeli, Suez Canal Speech

     I might refer to the general conviction and the common sense of society that such an investment cannot be treated as absolutely idle and nugatory.

2. Ineffective, invalid or futile.
   • 1792, George Washington, Fourth State of the Union Address

     I can not dismiss the subject of Indian affairs without again recommending to your consideration the expediency of more adequate provision for giving energy to the laws throughout our interior frontier and for restraining the commission of outrages upon the Indians, without which all pacific plans must prove nugatory.
3. (law) Having no force, inoperative, ineffectual.
   • 1819, Chief Justice John Marshall, McCulloch v. Maryland (17 U.S. 316)

     The word "necessary" is considered as controlling the whole sentence, and as limiting the right to pass laws for the execution of the granted powers to such as are indispensable, and without which the power would be nugatory.

4. (computing) Removable from a computer program with safety, but harmless if retained.

Translations