pseudointellectual
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
23
Scrabble Score
18
Letters
6
Syllables
12
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person who claims proficiency in scholarly or artistic activities while lacking in-depth knowledge or critical understanding.
noun
A person who pretends to be of greater intelligence than they actually are.
adj
Example Sentences
- "The telltale sign of a pseudo intellectual is the superficial sprinkling and misuse of terms like "paradigm shift" and name dropping"
- "[…] one wonders whether the function of statistical techniques in the social sciences is not primarily to provide a machinery for producing phoney corroborations and thereby a semblance of ‘scientific progress’ where, in fact, there is nothing but an increase in pseudo-intellectual garbage."
Etymology
Etymology tree Pre-Greekder.? Ancient Greek ψεύδω (pseúdō) Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-ēs Proto-Hellenic *-ēs Ancient Greek -ης (-ēs) Ancient Greek -ής (-ḗs) Ancient Greek ψευδής (pseudḗs)der. Middle English pseudo- English pseudo- English intellectual English pseudointellectual From pseudo- (“false, fake”) + intellectual.
Inflected Forms
pseudointellectuals (plural)
pseudo-intellectual (alternative)
more pseudointellectual (comparative)
most pseudointellectual (superlative)