ad hominem
English
Etymology
Ellipsis of the Latin expression argumentum ad hominem (“argument at the person”). It can also mean attacking the messenger.
Noun
| Examples |
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John Rawls was biased, so no one should take his theory of justice seriously. They’re biased, so they’re wrong.[1] |
ad hominem (plural ad hominems)
- Short for argumentum ad hominem: A fallacious objection to an argument or factual claim by appealing to a characteristic or belief of the person making the argument or claim, rather than by addressing the substance of the argument or producing evidence against the claim; an attempt to argue against an opponent's idea by discrediting the opponent themselves.
- (informal) A personal attack.
- (Can we add an example for this sense?)
Hyponyms
- appeal to motive
- argumentum ad feminam
- argumentum ad invidiam
- damn by association (a.k.a. guilt by association)
- Kafkatrap
- playing the man and not the ball
- poisoning the well
- tone policing
- traitorous critic fallacy
- tu quoque
Translations
logical fallacy
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personal attack
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Adjective
- Of or relating to this kind of fallacious objection.
- Well that's an ad hominem argument.
Collocations
Collocations
- ad hominem attack
- ad hominem argument
- ad hominem argumentation
- ad hominem fallacy
- ad hominem criticism
- ad hominem nature
- ad hominem remarks
- ad hominem comments
- ad hominem critique
- ad hominem criticism
- ad hominem style
- ad hominem approach
- ad hominem abuse
- ad hominem basis
- ad hominem point
Adverb
- In an ad hominem manner.
- He tried to make his case by arguing ad hominem.
Further reading
- “ad hominem”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “ad hominem”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- “ad hominem”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
- “ad hominem”, in Collins English Dictionary.
- “ad hominem” (US) / “ad hominem” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
Portuguese
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin ad hominem.
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈa.d͡ʒi ˈõ.mi.nẽj̃/ [ˈa.d͡ʒi ˈõ.mi.nẽɪ̯̃]
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈa.d͡ʒi ˈo.mi.nẽj̃/ [ˈa.d͡ʒi ˈo.mi.nẽɪ̯̃]
Spanish
Further reading
- “ad hominem”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
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