sophism
nounA plausible but fallacious argument.
nounDeceptive or fallacious argumentation.
nounA false argumentation devised for the exercise of one’s ingenuity or for the purpose of deceit; sometimes, a logically false argumentation; a fallacy.
nounSyn. A sophism is an argument known to be unsound by him who uses it; a paralogism is an unsound argument used without knowledge of its unsoundness. Paralogism is a strictly technical word of logic; sophism is not. Sophistry applies to reasoning as sophism to a single argument. See
The doctrine or mode of reasoning practiced by a sophist; hence, any fallacy designed to deceive.
nounA
a deliberately invalid argument displaying ingenuity in reasoning in the hope of deceiving someone