Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

not even wrong

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.28 in modern English

Syllables: not even wrong
IPA

19

Scrabble Score

12

Letters

1

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Of a supposedly scientific argument or explanation: unable to be meaningfully discussed because it is based on fundamentally invalid reasoning or speculative premises that cannot be proven or falsified.

Derogatory

Example Sentences

"Your alternate name for “near monopoles” (magnets with one pole appearing much stronger than the other) is bad labwork—labwork so mesmerizingly awful that it flat out is not even wrong."
"Some physicists claim that the dominant research program, designed to overcome this situation, is not really science at all. As Peter Woit (2007) put it, it is not even wrong. If we ignore such critics of the state of physics and accept the mainstream view we are told that nature can only be understood through mathematics which now cannot be interpreted in non-mathematical language […]"

Etymology

Generally attributed to theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli.

Usage

Derogatory

Phrases

wrong on so many levels

Frequently Paired Words

unfalsifiable wrong on so many levels

Questions

What does not even wrong mean?: Of a supposedly scientific argument or explanation: unable to be meaningfully discussed because it is based on fundamentally invalid reasoning or speculative premises that cannot be proven or falsified.
Where does not even wrong come from?: Generally attributed to theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli.

How to pronounce not even wrong

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