quack doctor
1
7.5
- noun
- /kwæk ˈdɑktər/
- Offensive
:
charlatán
- Many patients suffered because they sought help from a quack doctor instead of a licensed physician.
Theodore Morrell, who is this sort of quack Doctor Who uses all manner of homeopathic sort of progressive remedies.
- Theodore Morrell, who is this sort of quack Doctor Who uses all manner of homeopathic sort of progressive remedies.
Examples
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You should never trust a quack doctor who claims to cure all diseases without any proof.
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Yeah, because everybody always wants to talk about miracles, or about some genius quack doctor, or their friend's friend who went into remission eating nothing but sunflower seeds.
Fiction book (2000) -
Theodore Morrell, who is this sort of quack Doctor Who uses all manner of homeopathic sort of progressive remedies.
-
During a six-week period between late April and early June 1922, Philadelphia law enforcement agents made over 150 arrests of "fraudulent medical practitioners and 'quack' doctors" in the city.
Academic text (2007) -
And it's not as if doing away with abortion clinics will make abortions go away; it'll just drive them into the back alleys and unregulated quack doctors' offices.
Blog text (13) -
Councilman Moses Holmes, from the town of Willington, warned people to beware of "a certain quack doctor, a foreigner" who had urged families to dig up and burn dead relatives to stop consumption.
Blog text (1) -
Millet was pleased when Palissy repeatedly attacked alchemists and quack doctors, whose bogus science for forty years has made me scrape the earth and peer into its entrails.
Academic text (2007) -
After realizing his mistake, she warned her friends about the dangers of visiting a quack doctor.
Synonyms
39
8.4
A person who dishonestly claims to have medical skills
38
8.6
A person who says they have special skills to trick people
7
8.0
A person who tricks people by offering fake medicines or useless products
1
8.6
A person who claims their ideas are scientific but has no real evidence
Antonyms
How Fraudulent
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a fraudulent or unqualified physician' is directly compositional from 'quack' (an unqualified person claiming to be a doctor) + 'doctor' (a medical professional). This is a straightforward compound rather than an idiom or metaphor, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Quack doctor comes from the old word quack, short for 'quacksalver', a noisy market seller who loudly promised cures. Because these sellers often sold useless or false medicines, Quack doctor came to mean 'a fake doctor' who pretends to have real medical skills.