🦆 A duck sound 🦆 To make duck sound 🩺 A fake doctor 🩺 Not real medically 🩺 To pretend medically

quack

6 8.6

Not a real doctor who claims medical skills without training

adjective
/kwæk/

Offensive

: charlatán

Many people were misled by the quack doctor who promised miraculous cures with no real evidence.

Examples

The article warned readers about the dangers of following advice from quack health practitioners.
If there was one "good" thing about the UCSF manual, it was that it was a bit—shall we say?—reticent about promoting the quackier therapies.

Blog text (8)
She realized too late that her friend's remedy was based on quack theories that had no scientific backing.

Synonyms

quackish

vsquack

1 9.3

Acting like a doctor when you are not

is an unqualified practitioner who falsely claims real medical knowledge

quacky

vsquack

1 9.3

Not based on science and often about fake medical treatments

refers to an unqualified person who falsely claims medical skills

Antonyms

qualified

380 3.0

Having the skills and experience needed for a job

certified

159 4.0

Officially shown to have the required skills by a certificate

Compounds

quack-quack

Baby Talk

13 8.5

A word children use for a duck that copies its sound

quack doctor

Offensive

2 7.5

A person who pretends to be a doctor and gives fake medical treatments

quack grass

1 8.8

A common weed with long stems under the ground that spreads quickly through lawns

How Qualified

expert

165 3.5

qualified

380 3.0

competent

134 3.6

inexperienced

60 3.4

quack

Offensive

6 8.6

Surface Forms

quack positive

Etymology

Quack as an adjective grew from the old sellers called quacksalver who sold 'salve' and bragged about cures, so calling someone quack means they are not a real doctor but only pretend to be one.