What's the difference between rhetoric and sophistry?

Rhetoric


Definition:

  • (n.) The art of composition; especially, elegant composition in prose.
  • (n.) Oratory; the art of speaking with propriety, elegance, and force.
  • (n.) Hence, artificial eloquence; fine language or declamation without conviction or earnest feeling.
  • (n.) Fig. : The power of persuasion or attraction; that which allures or charms.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Migrant voters are almost as numerous as current Ukip supporters but they are widely overlooked and risk being increasingly disaffected by mainstream politics and the fierce rhetoric around immigration caused partly by the rise of Ukip,” said Robert Ford from Manchester University, the report’s co-author.
  • (2) In a poll before the debate, 48% predicted that Merkel, who will become Europe's longest serving leader if re-elected on 22 September, would emerge as the winner of the US-style debate, while 26% favoured Steinbruck, a former finance minister who is known for his quick-wit and rhetorical skills, but sometimes comes across as arrogant.
  • (3) Federal judges who blocked the bans cited harsh rhetoric employed by Trump on the campaign trail , specifically a pledge to ban all Muslims from entering the US and support for giving priority to Christian refugees, as being reflective of the intent behind his travel ban.
  • (4) This paper employs a rhetorical form designed to clarify and sharpen the focus of the very special stance required--which must be painstakingly learned under careful supervision--in order to effectively tune in to communications coming from the unconscious of the patient.
  • (5) Neither assertion was strictly accurate, but Obama was on a rhetorical roll.
  • (6) In what appeared to be pointed criticism of increasingly firm rhetoric from Cameron on multinational tax engineering, Carr insisted tax avoidance "cannot be about morality – there are no absolutes".
  • (7) May’s rhetoric against the Labour leader appeared to have toughened significantly, underlining the Conservatives’ determination to exploit what they regard as Corbyn’s weaknesses.
  • (8) Similar tensions afflict the US political scene, where anti-immigrant and anti-trade rhetoric have been prominent from the start of the current presidential election round.
  • (9) Samoa will host the third international conference on small island developing states (Sids) from 1 September, and I want leaders from the 193 nations attending to rise above rhetoric and grandstanding, and move closer to binding international agreements on climate change.
  • (10) Politically speaking, that could generate some powerful questions, as families on the cliff-edge begin to digest politicians' rhetoric about hardworking families and ask themselves: "How did we get here?"
  • (11) The striking weakness of Clegg's thesis was what it left out in its attempt to carve out a position for restless party activists as their poll ratings dip (down to 14% according to ICM) as Miliband tones down his own anti-Lib Dem rhetoric to woo them.
  • (12) This is a chancellor who has produced a budget for hedge fund managers more than for small businesses.” Corbyn made a point of mocking some of the chancellor’s grand rhetoric of recent years.
  • (13) A solid first step would be to both materially and rhetorically support that mechanism,” said Catanzano of the International Rescue Committee.
  • (14) The prime minister is coming under increasing pressure from the heads of some of Britain's largest multinational corporations who have urged Cameron to stop "moralising" and rein in his rhetoric on tax avoidance ahead of a G8 summit next month.
  • (15) You can actually create, be a builder and you can make things.” Wozniak’s faith in the power of education is no empty rhetoric.
  • (16) This coercive style of rhetoric is one reason why so many people have stopped listening to what politicians have to say.
  • (17) "We have rhetorical pressure, which we are using, and we have the Seventh Fleet, which nobody wants to use, and in between our options are more constrained," he said.
  • (18) So we have futile rhetoric on immigration, but minimal discussion over how to reinvent politics in the digital age.
  • (19) The hawkish rhetoric by Iranians feeds the rhetoric of hawkish Republicans , and the front page of Kayhan” – a conservative Iranian paper – “reads like the ticker on Fox News,” he added.
  • (20) Many supporters are neither leftist, nor admirers of Syriza’s anti-capitalist rhetoric, but Greeks appalled by the catastrophic effects of policies that have left 1.5 million unemployed, 3 million facing poverty and the vast majority unable to pay their bills.

Sophistry


Definition:

  • (n.) The art or process of reasoning; logic.
  • (n.) The practice of a sophist; fallacious reasoning; reasoning sound in appearance only.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But too often, those who deploy the argument, are borrowing from the Bill Clinton school of sophistry: "I did not have racist relations with that religion".
  • (2) Whatever the mechanisms of the drug-induced carcinogenesis, it is clear that there is a toxicologic hazard, which must be assessed rationally and not by means of sophistry.
  • (3) It has been their policy for the last 10 years and the commitment could not have been clearer in the Queen's speech that followed the general election (even if the wording of the coalition agreement allowed for some sophistry by opponents of reform).
  • (4) This sort of sophistry neatly inverts the actual benefactor-beneficiary relationship: for-profit companies are attempting to save money on entry level positions by extracting unpaid labour from a population of vulnerable young people, many of whom are unaware that these arrangements are often illegal.
  • (5) The Union now host their affiliate team Harrisburg in the quarter finals - prompting a little bit of sophistry from US Soccer as to why the two teams aren't technically affiliated .
  • (6) Though this is not explicit, it will help slice through the banalities and sophistry that party and campaign spin doctors on both sides seem unable to shake off with the referendum campaign.
  • (7) What Wisconsin does offer is a transparent illustration of the ideological sophistry and political mendacity driving these attacks.
  • (8) At best, these arrangements are advantageous legal sophistry.
  • (9) How can they approve this through the normal processes?” The chair of the London assembly’s budget and performance committee accused Johnson of “sophistry”.
  • (10) The possibility of exposing the mendacious speeches, populism and sophistry of politics, economics and culture is thrilling.
  • (11) "For all the sophistry and rhetoric about avoiding violence, how can they reconcile that with being ok with evictions?
  • (12) People think we just chuck it out there, but there's a huge amount of data sophistry into how we design the campaigns."
  • (13) This fiasco over PIP eligibility ultimately reveals the sophistry behind the government's disability agenda.
  • (14) The remainers in the audience saw the sophistry, but no matter.
  • (15) But it’s precisely this veil of classiness, this veneer of BBC2 sophistication, that brings on the sophistry.
  • (16) At best this is sophistry and at worst this is misleading, because the NAO report says the Department for Work and Pensions is actively considering a delay to this too.
  • (17) But he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them … Whether such deeds were reprehensible, or even whether they happened, was always decided according to political predilection.” When these contradictions are rooted in history this sophistry can be neatly buried under time.