equivocation
Sign in to saveIn logic, equivocation ("calling two different things by the same name") is an informal fallacy resulting in the failure to define one's terms, or knowingly and deliberately using words in a different sense than the one the audience will understand.
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
5 sectionsContents
- Fallacy of four terms
- Motte-and-bailey fallacy
- See also
- References
- External links
In logic, equivocation ("calling two different things by the same name") is an informal fallacy resulting in the failure to define one's terms, or knowingly and deliberately using words in a different sense than the one the audience will understand.
It is a type of ambiguity that stems from a phrase having two or more distinct meanings, not from the grammar or structure of the sentence.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “equivocation” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.