pseudointellectual meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

pseudointellectual

noun

Etymology From pseudo- (“false, fake”) + intellectual.

A person who claims proficiency in scholarly or artistic activities while lacking in-depth knowledge or critical understanding.

A person who pretends to be of greater intelligence than they actually are.

The telltale sign of a pseudo intellectual is the superficial sprinkling and misuse of terms like "paradigm shift" and name dropping2002 September 3, Cyber Cypher, “The sign of pseudo-intellectual”, in alt.usage.english (Usenet), message-ID <Xns927E5A0D9A8C1ccdenews@130.133.1.4>:

adj

Etymology From pseudo- (“false, fake”) + intellectual.

Pretentiously or insincerely intellectual.

[…] 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.1970, Imre Lakatos, “Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes”, in Imre Lakatos, Alan Musgrave, editors, Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge (Proceedings of the International Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science; 4), Cambridge: [Cambridge] University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 176: