LSAT Vocabulary Expansion

Quatrains

A four-lined poem or single stanza within a longer poem

Vacillate

To waver between choices or opinions or unable to make a firm decision

Subsumed

To include or absorb something into a larger category or group.

Actuated

To put into action or move to a specific function.

Libretti

Refers to the text or words of an opera or other long vocal work.

Dilettantism

The practice of engaging in an activity, especially the arts, in a superficial or amateurish manner. It often implies a lack of serious commitment or expertise.

Elliptical

An oblong or spherical shape

Ambivalence

Conflicting feelings, beliefs, or reactions towards a person, object, or action. The experience of being pulled strongly in two opposing directions at once.

Presuppositions

An implicit, background assumption taken for granted before a statement, argument, or action can be meaningful.

Without precedent

an event, decision, or situation is completely unique and has never happened or been recorded before. A total absence of prior examples, historical parallels, or established rules to guide or compare it to.

Factionalism

Splitting of a larger group into smaller, conflicting subgroups

Eminence

A state of being well-known, prominent, and highly respected within a particular field.

What logical fallacy is committed when an argument “draws a conclusion that is logically equivalent to its premise”?

Circular Reasoning (or Begging the Question)
An argument that assumes exactly what it is trying to prove, restating the premise as the conclusion.
It is technically valid but completely useless because it provides zero independent evidence.

Correlation-to-Causation Flaw

The error of assuming that just because two events or variables occur together, one directly causes the other.

Deleterious

Used to describe things that are subtle, unexpected, or gradual in their harmfulness.

Divergent Conclusions

A final decision, opinion, or outcome that differs or branches away from the norm, or the original starting point.

Assertion

the act of stating something positively, or a declaration of a belief or fact.