In ancient Greece, one of a group of 5th-century BC itinerant lecturers on culture, rhetoric, and politics. Skeptical about the possibility of achieving genuine knowledge, they applied bogus reasoning and were concerned with winning arguments rather than establishing the truth. Plato regarded them as dishonest and sophistry came to mean fallacious reasoning.
Onaj koji se namerno služi lažnim zaključcima, prepreden mudrijaš; fi. u V veku pre n.e.: čovek od nauke, mudrac, narodni učitelj i prosvetitelj; docnije, malo-pomalo, sofisti su se izbrgli u ljude koji su od svog znanja napravili unosan posao, služeći se izvrtanjem istine, zakona itd., kako ke kad trebalo; najznačajniji i naučno najsolidniji bio je Protagora.
A philosopher who seeks paradoxes, or one who advances ideas that seem inconsistent with common sense.