The practice of using sophisticated terms and/or concepts incorrectly or without thorough understanding of their intricate nuances and thus resulting in a flawed body of knowledge (i.e. erroneous beliefs). Typically people who partake in pseudo-intellectualism do so with authority and conviction as a result of some effort to understand the concepts and/or terms but lack the mental capacity to synthesize true knowledge from their efforts and thus typically do not know they are intellectually mistaken.
Yeah, that dude Phillip and I got into a political discussion and he started talking about how Sanders wants to subsidize everything and how Trump economic policies will increase the value of the dollar. He clearly doesn't even know what the word "subsidize" means, that there is a fine example of some pseudo-intellectualism.
by zerO_One March 16, 2017
by The Science July 14, 2008
They're self-proclaimed intellectuals who try to make themselves look smart by replacing common words with words that not many people know. They would google things like "Others words to use instead of good" and use big words so they sound smart when arguing internet strangers and would forget the definition 5 minutes later. They usually have the same IQ as their shoe size.
by A4775 November 26, 2020
This pseudo-intellectual here talks fast and uses big, fancy words, which makes him seem smart to the unintelligent folk.
Mr. Pseudo-intellectual over here talks fast and uses long, fancy words, so he seems quite smart to the dumb folk.
by Sir. B September 19, 2020
Person A: “Did you see the new John Green video?”
Person B: “Of course not, he’s such a pseudo-intellectual”
Person A: “what?”
Person B: “you know he’s not actually qualified to talk about most of the stuff he has opinions on”
Person B: “Of course not, he’s such a pseudo-intellectual”
Person A: “what?”
Person B: “you know he’s not actually qualified to talk about most of the stuff he has opinions on”
by Idontlikedefininitions November 23, 2020