scientism
Americannoun
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the style, assumptions, techniques, practices, etc., typifying or regarded as typifying scientists.
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the belief that the assumptions, methods of research, etc., of the physical and biological sciences are equally appropriate and essential to all other disciplines, including the humanities and the social sciences.
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scientific or pseudoscientific language.
noun
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the application of, or belief in, the scientific method
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the uncritical application of scientific or quasi-scientific methods to inappropriate fields of study or investigation
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of scientism
First recorded in 1875–80; scient(ist) + -ism
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Pope Leo warns repeatedly against both economism and scientism: the temptation to reduce human beings to market functions or material processes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
“I think it’s dangerous to lean too far into scientism, which is when you see the world exclusively through the lens of whether something is backed by science,” O’Keefe said.
From Slate ● Oct. 20, 2022
But his consilience project stems from excessive faith in science, or scientism.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 25, 2021
There’s also a difference between scientism and science.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 17, 2019
Professor Clifford says he is more thoroughly in harmony with the spirit and letter of advanced scientism than any other living poet.
From Birds and Poets : with Other Papers by John Burroughs
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
