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elenchus.

A technique of argument associated with Socrates wherein the arguer asks the interlocutor to agree with a series of premises and conclusions, ending with the arguer's intended point.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɪˈlɛŋ.kəs/
  1. A technique of argument associated with Socrates wherein the arguer asks the interlocutor to agree with a series of premises and conclusions, ending with the arguer's intended point.

    rhetoric
Where this word comes from

From Latin elenchus, from Ancient Greek ἔλεγχος (élenkhos, “refutation, scrutiny, control”). Doublet of elench.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.