soph·ist / ˈsäfist/ • n. a paid teacher of philosophy and rhetoric in ancient Greece, associated in popular thought with moral skepticism and specious reasoning. ∎  a person who reasons with clever but fallacious arguments.DERIVATIVES: so·phis·tic / səˈfistik/ adj.so·phis·ti·cal / səˈfistikəl/ adj.so·phis·ti·cal·ly / səˈfistik(ə)lē/ adv.ORIGIN: mid 16th cent.: via Latin from Greek sophistēs, from sophizesthai ‘devise, become wise,’ from sophos ‘wise.’

sophist a paid teacher of philosophy and rhetoric in Greece in the Classical and Hellenistic periods, associated in popular thought with moral scepticism and specious reasoning. Recorded from the mid 16th century, the word comes ultimately via Latin from Greek sophizesthai ‘devise, become wise’, from sophos ‘wise’.