counterfactual vs specious

counterfactual

adj
  • Contrary to known or agreed facts; untrue. 

  • Of or in comparison to a hypothetical state of the world. 

noun
  • A conditional statement in which the conditional clause is false. 

  • A claim, hypothesis, or other belief that is contrary to the facts. 

  • A hypothetical state of the world, used to assess the impact of an action. 

specious

adj
  • Seemingly well-reasoned, plausible or true, but actually fallacious. 

  • Employing fallacious but deceptively plausible arguments; deceitful. 

  • Having an attractive appearance intended to generate a favorable response; deceptively attractive. 

How often have the words counterfactual and specious occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )