ad hominem

English

Etymology

Ellipsis of the Latin expression argumentum ad hominem (“argument at the person”). It can also mean attacking the messenger.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

Examples
John Rawls was biased, so no one should take his theory of justice seriously. They’re biased, so they’re wrong.

ad hominem (plural ad hominems)

1. 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.
2. (informal) A personal attack.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Antonyms

• ad verecundiam (see Wikipedia:Argument from authority)
• appeal to authority
• ipse dixit

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

• Catalan: ad hominem
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 对人不对事, 以人废言 (zh) (yǐrénfèiyán)

• Finnish: ad hominem
• Japanese: 対人論証 (taijin ronshō)
• Portuguese: ad hominem (pt) m
• Spanish: ad hominem
• Tagalog: katwirang umaantig sa sarilintao

personal attack

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 人身攻擊／人身攻击 (zh) (rénshēn gōngjī, rénshēn gōngjí)

• Finnish: ad hominem, henkilökohtaisuus (fi)
• French: attaque personnelle f
• German: persönlicher Angriff m
• Japanese: 人身攻撃 (ja) (jinshin kōgeki)
• Portuguese: ad hominem (pt) m
• Russian: перехо́д на ли́чности (ru) m (perexód na líčnosti), ли́чные напа́дки f pl (líčnyje napádki)
• Spanish: ataque personal m
• Swedish: personangrepp (sv) n

Adjective

ad hominem (not comparable)

1. 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

ad hominem (not comparable)

1. 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]

• (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]

Adjective

ad hominem (invariable)

1. (of an argument) ad hominem (being a personal attack)

Adverb

ad hominem (not comparable)

1. in an ad hominem manner

Spanish

Adjective

ad hominem (invariable)

1. ad hominem

Adverb

ad hominem

1. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) ad hominem

Further reading

• “ad hominem”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28