pseudointellectual

[ soo-doh-in-tl-ek-choo-uhl ]

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 Words From

• pseudo·intel·lectu·al·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of pseudointellectual¹

First recorded in 1935–40; pseudo- + intellectual

Example Sentences

She was explaining to Gyllenhaal how she based a character in her latest film, “Don’t Worry Darling,” on Jordan Peterson, a professor turned proselytizer whom Wilde described as “this pseudointellectual hero to the incel community.”

From Washington Post

The new rhetorical style is a pseudointellectual approach, as Americans observed Wednesday, when the Supreme Court took up the matter of abortion anew.

From Washington Post

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

From Washington Post

And yet: The pseudointellectual brain trust that has long powered the GOP is now lobbying against adequately funding the IRS.

From Washington Post

He even worked up an entirely different approach to the character, giving him a backstory in Paris as a pretentious pseudointellectual.

From Washington Post