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unscientific

unscientific

18 5.1
Not based on careful tests and reliable facts
  • adjective
  • /ˌʌnˌsaɪənˈtɪfɪk/
translation icon : no científico
  • It seems to be just a ridiculous sort of unscientific thing to even think, right?
  • an unscientific view

If that sounds unscientific, it's because it is.

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Examples

  • The biased virus hunters used an unscientific approach.

  • Against all the evidence, Michael, I'd say you had a very unscientific mind.

  • If that sounds unscientific, it's because it is.

  • The doctor must, therefore, move towards the patient's own unscientific view.

    Academic text (1999)
  • I tell you, it's unscientific not to admit the possibility of anything.

  • Any curriculum decision that fails to acknowledge this must be considered unscientific.

    Academic text (2007)
  • This conclusion is unscientific, and the man leading that charge is named Graham Hancock.

  • In East Java, the Kyai dismissed feminist thinking as emotional and unscientific.

    Academic text (2007)
  • We have come a long way since Marx sneered at the utopian socialists for being unscientific.

    Academic text (1993)
  • The researchers criticized the study for using unscientific methods that lacked proper controls.

Synonyms

pseudoscientific
vsunscientific
3 9.3

Ideas or methods that look like real science but have no proof

is openly not based on scientific methods and does not claim scientific status
nonscientific
vsunscientific
1 4.6

Not based on science or scientific evidence

stresses inconsistency with scientific principles rather than simple unrelatedness

Antonyms

976 3.7

About careful methods used to find and test facts

How Scientific

scientific
976 3.7
rigorous
85 6.7
plausible
129 7.2
questionable
176 3.9
unscientific
18 5.1
superstitious
58 4.9

Surface Forms

unscientific positive
less unscientific comparative
least unscientific superlative

Morphology

unscientific = scientific (transparent) = un + scientific

The negative prefix 'un-' directly negates the adjective 'scientific', yielding the expected meaning 'not scientific' for an average learner.

Etymology

Unscientific is built from un- ('not') and science ('knowledge from careful study'). So, unscientific describes ideas or methods that are 'not based on careful tests or evidence'.