Not real or genuine, but made to seem like something it is not; fake or pretending.
From Greek *pseudos*, meaning 'lie' or 'falsehood'. English borrowed it through scientific and academic language, often as a prefix meaning 'false' or 'imitation'.
Whenever you see *pseudo-* at the start of a word, your brain can quietly add 'fake' in front of it. *Pseudoscience* is literally 'fake science' pretending to wear a lab coat.
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