ignoratio elenchi

1. 1.

   the logical fallacy of supposing that an argument proving an irrelevant point has proved the point at issue

   Broaderlogical fallacy

Questions about ignoratio elenchi

What does ignoratio elenchi mean?

ignoratio elenchi means "the logical fallacy of supposing that an argument proving an irrelevant point has proved the point at issue".

Is ignoratio elenchi a common word?

ignoratio elenchi is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.