speciously

specious +‎ -ly

• IPA^(key): /ˈspiːʃəsli/

speciously (comparative more speciously, superlative most speciously)

1. In a specious manner; fallaciously and erroneously, but seeming superficially to be correct.
   • 1781, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC:

     Exasperated, as he might speciously allege, by the injuries of a similar nature, he hastened with a few followers to join the standard, and to betray the confidence, of his too credulous friend.

   • 1886 May, Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC:

     And thus his jealous soul speciously argued to excuse the separation of father and child.

   • 2023 June 12, Tom Dart, “US culture wars come to baseball as MLB celebrates Pride month”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     Once viewed—however speciously—as an escape from the wider world, American sports and politics have been explicitly entwined since athletes began protesting civil rights injustices, prodding their organisations to take a stance amid the polarising rise to power of Donald Trump.

2. (malapropism) Specially.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 52:

     I will do what I can for them all three, for so I haue promisd, and Ile bee as good as my word, but speciously for M. Fenton.