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pseudoscience

pseudoscience

11 8.0
Ideas or practices that pretend to be based on facts but have no good proof
  • noun
  • /ˈsuːdoʊˌsaɪəns/
translation icon : seudociencia
  • The documentary exposed various practices that are categorized as pseudoscience despite their claims to be factual.
  • science and pseudoscience

So while I don't think IIT is pseudoscience, I think it's just wrong.

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Examples

  • Undoing the influence of such pseudoscience is going to be a long and arduous process.

  • A recent Gallup poll reports widespread and increasingly prevalent belief in pseudoscience.

    Academic text (2007)
  • But what we call pseudoscience today might once have been science.

  • Every science has its corresponding pseudoscience.

  • How are you preparing students to debunk pseudoscience and to really serve the public?

  • After the tragedies of Nazi Germany, there was a rush to dismiss racial theory as pseudoscience.

    Academic text (2018)
  • In seeking to deal with dilemmas still unresolved by science, some people turn to pseudoscience and check their daily horoscopes.

    Academic text (1990)
  • The racial conception of Mexicans through the pseudoscience of eugenics depended precisely on the problem of racial mixture they embodied.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Many people confuse astrology with pseudoscience because it lacks empirical support.

  • Schools should teach students to identify pseudoscience in health claims to protect their well-being.

Synonyms

junk science
vspseudoscience
  • Literature
7 7.4

False or weak claims presented as based on careful study to mislead people

focuses on claiming scientific status rather than on academic formality
quackademic approach
vspseudoscience
  • Offensive
9.9

A method that looks scientific but has no real evidence

claims to follow scientific methods but lacks valid evidence or principles
crank science
vspseudoscience
  • Slang
9.6

False or not proven ideas that claim to explain how the world works

is the broader system claiming science without valid evidence or principles

Antonyms

scientific theory
  • Specialized
15 4.2

A tested explanation of how nature works, supported by many experiments and facts

How Scientific

scientific theory
  • Specialized
15 4.2
pseudoscience
11 8.0

Surface Forms

pseudoscience singular

Morphology

pseudoscience = science (transparent) = pseudo + science

The meaning is directly compositional: 'pseudo-' means false or fake, so 'pseudoscience' is literally false science.

Etymology

Pseudoscience is made of pseudo- meaning 'false' and science meaning 'study' or 'knowledge'. So the word names ideas that pretend to be scientific but are not based on real evidence.