Synonyms:
gilded, meretricious, specious
Meaning: based on pretense; deceptively pleasing; "the gilded and perfumed but inwardly rotten nobility"; "meretricious praise"; "a meretricious argument"
Synonyms:
specious, spurious
Meaning: plausible but false; "a specious claim"; "spurious inferences"
Usage examples
Specious show of impeccability
"That is a bit of specious nonsense," returned the ghost, throwing a quart of indignation into the face of the master of Harrowby.
Specious arguments of danger to the common liberty could easily be contrived; plausible excuses for the deficiencies of the party could, without difficulty, be invented to alarm the apprehensions, inflame the passions, and conciliate the good-will, even of those States which were not chargeable with any violation or omission of duty.