Is there a a word for "revealing himself to be foolish by attempting to appear intelligent"?

Question

Is there a word for "when one reveals himself to be stupid, ignorant, foolish by attempting to appear intelligent, smart, witty"?

Answer 1

There is a word sophisticated which means appearing but only appearing to be clever. It is from a Greek word "sophis", which means facile wisdom. The Greek word for wise is "sophos" - where "sophis" attaches itself as being "wisdom-ish". Looks like wisdom.

In English, like the Greek word, the word sophist is of dual mode use. I guess that is the point - such that when we deploy the word sophis on someone, it is deliberately to cast a vague aspersion upon that person.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sophist ...

soph·ist (sŏf′ĭst)

n.

1. 
   

   a. One skilled in elaborate and devious argumentation.
   b. A scholar or thinker.

2. Sophist Any of a group of professional fifth-century bc Greek philosophers and teachers who speculated on theology, metaphysics, and the sciences, and who were later characterized by Plato as superficial manipulators of rhetoric and dialectic.

[Middle English sophiste, from Latin sophista, from Greek sophistēs, from sophizesthai, to become wise, from sophos, clever.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sophist (ˈsɒfɪst)

n

1. (Philosophy) (often capital) one of the pre-Socratic philosophers who were itinerant professional teachers of oratory and argument and who were prepared to enter into debate on any matter however specious

2. a person who uses clever or quibbling arguments that are fundamentally unsound

[from Latin sophista, from Greek sophistēs a wise man, from sophizesthai to act craftily]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014