pseudointellectual

[soo-doh-in-tl-ek-choo-uh l]

noun

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

adjective

of, relating to, or characterized by fraudulent intellectuality; unscholarly: a pseudointellectual book.

Origin of pseudointellectual

First recorded in 1935–40; pseudo- + intellectual

Related formspseu·do·in·tel·lec·tu·al·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for pseudo-intellectual

Contemporary Examples of pseudo-intellectual

So the real meat of Stalker, ostensibly, is the pseudo-intellectual conversation about misogyny.
‘Stalker’ Is an Awful Warning Against the Evils of Misogyny
Sujay Kumar
October 3, 2014

Historical Examples of pseudo-intellectual

For example, there can be no doubt that one may see from time to time the pseudo-intellectual woman.
A Short History of Women's Rights
Eugene A. Hecker
I said your whole damned Index is nothing but a bunch of pseudo-intellectual garbage.
The Great Gray Plague
Raymond F. Jones