philosophunculist

philosophunculist

English

Etymology

From philosophuncule +‎ -ist.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /fɪˌlɒsəˈfʌŋkjʊlɪst/

Noun

philosophunculist (plural philosophunculists)

1. (rare) A minor or insignificant philosopher; someone who claims philosophical expertise that they do not possess. [from 19th c.]
   • 1840, Fraser's Magazine, May 1840, vol. 21, p. 588:

     The unsettled races of the north, constituting the Chartists, are Scotch philosophunculists and Irish savages, or the children of such.

   • 1991, Edward W Tayler, Donne's Idea of a Woman, p. 156 n. 7:

     Cunningham's brilliant explication of ‘glassie Essence’ and related matters first appeared in ELH, 19 (1952), see esp. p. 266, but has been ignored by those whom Robert Burton would call the philosophunculists of the academy as well as by most students of Shakespeare.

   • 2010, Bob Behrent, Planes, Pranks and Pepto-Bismol:

     However, you should never be a philosophunculist (Go look it up) to succeed in your business ventures.