The Collaborative International Dictionary
Elench \E*lench"\ ([-e]*l[e^][ng]k"), n.; pl. Elenchs. [L. elenchus, Gr. ?, fr. ? to convict, confute, prove: cf. OF. elenche.] (Logic)
That part of an argument on which its conclusiveness depends; that which convinces of refutes an antagonist; a refutation.
A specious but fallacious argument; a sophism.
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context logic English) That part of an argument on which its conclusiveness depends; that which convinces or refutes an antagonist; a refutation. 2 A specious but fallacious argument; a sophism.
Usage examples of "elench".
And in those swallowingly vast volumes, amongst those spaces between the spaces between the stars, around suns, dwarfs, nebulae and holes it had been determined from some distance were of no immediate interest or threat, it was of course always possible that some danger waited, some peril lurked, comparatively small measured against the physical scale of the galaxy's present active cultures, but capable - through a developmental peculiarity or as a result of some form of temporal limbo or exclusionary dormancy - of challenging and besting even a representative of a society as technologically advanced and contactually experienced as the Elench.
There was a hint - a probably false-signal resonation in the skein of space-time behind them - that there might be a craft following them, but then it was not unusual for other civilisations to follow ships of the Zetetic Elench.