pseudointellectual

American  

[soo-doh-in-tl-ek-choo-uhl] / ˌsu doʊˌɪn tlˈɛk tʃu əl /

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 Word Forms

• pseudointellectually
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of pseudointellectual

First recorded in 1935–40; pseudo- + intellectual

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pseudointellectual

Roth, I’m guessing, would have recoiled at all this pseudointellectual militancy.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 29, 2021

All I cared about was Pacey Witter and Joey Potter growing old together and adopting me as their fast-talking, pseudointellectual daughter, Amanda Witter-Potter.

From Salon ● Nov. 11, 2019

“The Answers” features a large cast, and Lacey’s depictions of everyone from Kurt, a narcissistic, pseudointellectual movie actor, to Matheson, Kurt’s devoted assistant, are deliciously shrewd.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 6, 2017

It was in late 1962 that Irving and Fay took off for the Balearic island of Ibiza, which Lipton calls "the Foreign Legion of the pseudointellectual literary jet set."

From Time Magazine Archive

"They're not bad, yeah. A bit pseudointellectual but, hey, aren't we all?"

From "Will Grayson, Will Grayson" by John Green and David Levithan