Pseudo

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Grammarist

Pseudo means not authentic, false, pretend. Pseudo may also mean having a close resemblance to. The word pseudo is often used with another word, hyphenated, to refer to something that is inauthentic, such as pseudo-science or pseudo-intellectual. Pseudo- is also a prefix used in words such as pseudonym. Pseudo comes to us in the late fourteenth century to mean something false or spurious, from the Greek word pseudes meaning false and the Greek word pseudein meaning to lie. Popularity of the word pseudo and the prefix pseudo- has steadily risen over the last two centuries, according to Ngram, its use nearly doubling between 1900 and 1960.

Examples

The bluffer’s guide to being a name-dropping pseudo-intellectual (The Herald Scotland)

The conditions that encourage the growth of pseudo-nitzchia are “impossible” to predict, said California authorities, and thus they don’t know when the crab will be safe to eat again. (The Huffington Post)

Justin Bieber-Selena Gomez stroll flaunting pseudo-PDA (The Financial Express)

There are many speculations about the rapidly spreading pseudo caliphate established by the self-proclaimed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. (Rising Kashmir)

Speaking of pseudo-celebrities, here’s a toy that doesn’t merely try to inspire America’s youth to be a vain, self-obsessed social media star, but celebrates the lives and achievements of those who have already reached that plateau. (The Consumerist)

Additionally, students showed their prejudiced attitudes toward Native Americans in tasteless club traditions like those of the Order of Angell — a University organization (which changed its name from the pseudo-tribal “Michigamua” in 2006) with a long, murky past rooted in blatant insensitivity. (The Michigan Daily)

“The idea for a male pseudonym was kind of a basic desire to distance this persona as far as possible from myself.”  (People Magazine)

His headaches, vomiting and stupor were caused by pseudotumor cerebri — essentially, a false brain tumor. (The Washington Post)