pseudointellectual

[ soo-doh-in-tl-ek-choo-uhl ]

noun

1. a person exhibiting intellectual pretensions that have no basis in sound scholarship.
2. a person who pretends an interest in intellectual matters for reasons of status.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characterized by fraudulent intellectuality; unscholarly:

   a pseudointellectual book.

Other Words From

• pseudo·intel·lectu·al·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of pseudointellectual¹

First recorded in 1935–40; pseudo- + intellectual

Example Sentences

As soon as I heard this long, desperate stream of pseudointellectual gibberish, I knew instantly that this thing was doomed.

From The Daily Beast