σοφιστής σοφιστής, οῦ, ὁ, σοφίζομαι a master of oneʼs craft or art, an adept, of a diviner, Hdt.; of poets, Pind.; of the Creator, Plat.; metaph., σ. πημάτων an adept in misery, Eur. like φρόνιμος, one who is clever in matters of life, a wise man, in which sense the seven Sages are called σοφισταί, Hdt.; of Prometheus, Aesch. at Athens, a Sophist, i. e. a professor of grammar, rhetoric, politics, mathematics, such as Prodicus, Gorgias, Protagoras, Thuc., Plat., etc. At first the Sophists were held in honour; but from their loose principles they fell into ill repute, and the word came to mean, a sophist (in bad sense), a quibbler, cheat, Ar., Dem., etc.