"motte and bailey" meaning in All languages combined

See motte and bailey on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Forms: mottes and baileys [plural]
Etymology: (form of argument): Coined by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. Etymology templates: {{sense|form of argument}} (form of argument):, {{coined|en|Q42583236|nobycat=1}} Coined by philosopher Nicholas Shackel Head templates: {{en-noun|mottes and baileys}} motte and bailey (plural mottes and baileys)
  1. The predecessor of the castle, having a raised earth mound (the motte) topped with a tower (or donjon), and a wooden ring fortification surrounding a courtyard (the bailey).
    Sense id: en-motte_and_bailey-en-noun-UPvz~eKq Categories (other): English coordinated pairs, English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English coordinated pairs: 48 52 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 47 53
  2. A form of argument and an informal fallacy where an arguer conflates two similar positions, one modest and easier to defend (the "motte") and one much more controversial (the "bailey"), by advancing the controversial position, but when challenged, insisting that they are only advancing the more modest position.
    Sense id: en-motte_and_bailey-en-noun-am3sqmMr Categories (other): English coordinated pairs, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English coordinated pairs: 48 52 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 47 53 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 38 62 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 44 56
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: motte-and-bailey

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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Download raw JSONL data for motte and bailey meaning in All languages combined (2.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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