pseudoscience

See also: pseŭdoscience and pseudo-science

English

Alternative forms

pseudo-science

Etymology

pseudo- +‎ science, 1796, originally in reference to alchemy.[1]

Noun

pseudoscience (countable and uncountable, plural pseudosciences)

Any body of knowledge that purports to be scientific or to be supported by science but which fails to comply with the scientific method.
- 1796, James Pettit Andrews, Robert Henry, History of Great Britain, from the death of Henry viii. to the accession of James vi. of Scotland to the crown of England p. 87:
  The fantastical pseudo-science of alchemy has in all ages had its numerous votaries …
- 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
  We had enough to do in this world. Life was a beautiful thing. The man who appreciated its real duties and beauties would have sufficient to employ him without dabbling in pseudo sciences which had their roots in frauds, exposed already a hundred times and yet finding fresh crowds of foolish devotees whose insane credulity and irrational prejudice made them impervious to all argument.
Fictitious science as portrayed in science fiction.
- 1952 November 1, Groff Conklin, Galaxy Science Fiction, page 122, column 1:
  It pulls together first-rate pseudo-science and high-grade detective meller of the Spillane school (but entirely clean) and the result is fine read-and-forget entertainment.

Hyponyms

astrology, alchemy, qigong, ayurveda, homeopathy, flat-earthism, free energy, perpetual motion, geocentrism, Lysenkoism, orgone, fengshui, ley lines, animal magnetism, acupuncture, chiropractic, phrenology, crystal healing, reiki, traditional Chinese medicine, psychoanalysis, scientific racism, palmistry, dowsing, ghosthunting, ufology, psychokinesis, numerology, wuxing, exorcism, creation science, dianetics

Derived terms

pseudoscientific
pseudoscientifically
pseudoscientist

Translations

purported science

Afrikaans: pseudowetenskap
Azerbaijani: yalan elmlər
Bulgarian: лъженаука f (lǎženauka), псевдонаука f (psevdonauka)
Catalan: pseudociència (ca) f
Chinese:
Cantonese: 偽科學, 伪科学 (ngai⁶ fo¹ hok⁶)
Mandarin: 偽科學／伪科学 (zh) (wěikēxué)
Czech: pavěda f, pseudověda f
Danish: pseudovidenskab c
Dutch: pseudowetenschap (nl) f
Esperanto: pseŭdoscienco
Estonian: pseudoteadus
Finnish: pseudotiede (fi), näennäistiede (fi)
French: pseudo-science (fr) f
German: Pseudowissenschaft (de) f
Greek: ψευδοεπιστήμη (el) f (psevdoepistími)
Gujarati: છદ્મવિજ્ઞાન (chadmavijñān), સ્યુડોસાયન્સમાં (syuḍosāyansamā̃)
Hungarian: áltudomány (hu)
Icelandic: hjáfræði
Italian: pseudoscienza (it) f
Japanese: 疑似科学 (ぎじかがく, gijikagaku)
Kazakh: жалған ғылым (jalğan ğylym)
Korean: 의사과학(擬似科學) (uisagwahak), 유사과학(類似科學) (yusagwahak), 사이비과학(似而非科學) (saibigwahak)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: زِڕزانِست‎ (zirrzanist)
Latvian: pseidozinātne
Lithuanian: pseudomokslas m
Malayalam: കപടശാസ്ത്രം (kapaṭaśāstraṃ)
Middle Persian: - (/mānāgdānišn/)
Book Pahlavi: [Book Pahlavi needed] (mʾnʾkdʾnšn')
Norwegian:
Bokmål: pseudovitenskap m
Nynorsk: pseudovitskap m
Persian: شبه‌علم‎
Polish: pseudonauka (pl) f
Portuguese: pseudociência f
Romanian: pseudoștiință (ro) f
Russian: псевдонау́ка (ru) f (psevdonaúka), лженау́ка (ru) f (lženaúka)
Serbo-Croatian: pseudoznanost f
Sicilian: psiuduscènzia f, scènzia fausa f
Slovak: paveda f
Slovene: psevdoznanost f
Spanish: pseudociencia (es) f
Swedish: pseudovetenskap (sv) c
Tamil: போலி அறிவியல் (pōli aṟiviyal)
Thai: วิทยาศาสตร์เทียม
Ukrainian: псевдонау́ка f (psevdonaúka), лженау́ка (uk) f (lženaúka)
Uzbek: soxta fan
Vietnamese: ngụy khoa học (偽科學), giả khoa học (假科學)
Welsh: ffugwyddor f

References

James Pettit Andrews, Robert Henry, History of Great Britain, from the death of Henry viii. to the accession of James vi. of Scotland to the crown of England p. 87

[1] James Pettit Andrews, Robert Henry, History of Great Britain, from the death of Henry viii. to the accession of James vi. of Scotland to the crown of England p. 87