different between fraud vs pseudointellectual

English

Etymology

From Middle English fraude (recorded since 1345), from Old French fraude, a borrowing from Latin fraus (“deceit, injury, offence”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /f???d/
• (US) enPR: frôd, IPA^(key): /f??d/
• (cot–caught merger, Inland Northern American) enPR: fr?d, IPA^(key): /f??d/
• Rhymes: -??d

Noun

fraud (countable and uncountable, plural frauds)

1. (law) The crime of stealing or otherwise illegally obtaining money by use of deception tactics.
2. Any act of deception carried out for the purpose of unfair, undeserved and/or unlawful gain.
3. The assumption of a false identity to such deceptive end.
4. A person who performs any such trick.
5. (obsolete) A trap or snare.

Synonyms

• swindle
• scam
• (criminal) deceit
• trickery
• hoky-poky
• imposture
• (person) faker, fraudster, impostor, cheat(er), trickster
• grift

Related terms

• defraud
• fraudulence
• fraudulent
• fraudulently
• fraudulentness
• insurance fraud
• mail fraud
• pious fraud
• wire fraud

Translations

Verb

fraud (third-person singular simple present frauds, present participle frauding, simple past and past participle frauded)

1. (obsolete) To defraud

Translations

See also

• embezzlement
• false billing
• false advertising
• forgery
• identity theft
• predatory lending
• quackery
• usury
• white-collar crime

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

fraud f

1. form removed with the spelling reform of 1938; superseded by frau

English

Etymology

pseudo- (“false, fake”) +? intellectual

Noun

pseudointellectual (plural pseudointellectuals)

1. A person who claims proficiency in scholarly or artistic activities while lacking in-depth knowledge or critical understanding.
2. A person who pretends to be of greater intelligence than he or she in fact is.

Usage notes

Usage is fraught, and pseudointellectual may be used as a general term of abuse for intellectuals one dislikes or disagrees with. Nevertheless, in more careful use a rather clear distinction is drawn: a pseudointellectual is someone dishonestly or insincerely using the language, style, or topics of an intellectual, but who lacks the goals, morals, or ability of a “genuine” intellectual. It is someone who acts pretentiously and wishes to win an argument or impress, rather than modestly trying to find the truth – a focus on surface and rhetoric over content. These often involve a superficial understanding of a subject and condescension to the audience, as well as possible self-delusion (not being consciously dishonest, but rather sincerely thinking oneself to be behaving as a genuine intellectual despite one's incompetence).

Synonyms

• pseud
• pseudo

See also

• See also Thesaurus:deceiver
• charlatan
• fraud
• sophist

Adjective

pseudointellectual (comparative more pseudointellectual, superlative most pseudointellectual)

1. Pretentiously or insincerely intellectual.

References

• Sydney J. Harris, circa 1981 November 20 (syndicated column), published as “Distinctions Between Intellectuals And Pseudo-Intellectuals” (mirror) in the Detroit Free Press, (11/20/81) and “Telling the real from the pseudo”, Sarasota Journal, Nov 23, 1981, among others