Jes·u·it

(jĕzh′o͞o-ĭt, jĕz′o͞o-, -yo͞o-)

1. Roman Catholic Church A member of the Society of Jesus.

2. often jesuit One given to subtle casuistry.

[French Jésuite, from Jésus, Jesus, from Late Latin Iēsus; see Jesus¹.]

Jes′u·it′i·cal adj.

Jes′u·it′i·cal·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

References in periodicals archive

vast persuasion; they spoke tenderly and Jesuitically for themselves.

From cities of things to cities of signs: urban spaces and urban subjects in Sister Carrie and Manhattan Transfer

I think he is claiming that morality permits one to pursue and achieve nefarious goals through Jesuitically clever means, and that because morality does so, it cannot be reduced to a few basic principles that can be theoretically systematized.

Ill-Gotten Gains: Evasion, Blackmail, Fraud, and Kindred Puzzles of the Law

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