Zohnerism

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noun

The use of a true fact to lead a scientifically and mathematically ignorant public to a false conclusion.

“The dihydrogen monoxide parody is an example of the effects of Zohnerism.”

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Meanings

nounZohnerism (uncountable)
  1. uncountableThe use of a true fact to lead a scientifically and mathematically ignorant public to a false conclusion.

    The dihydrogen monoxide parody is an example of the effects of Zohnerism.

    5 more examples

    When thinking about Zohnerism, the impeachment perpetrated on our president by the Democrat-led Congress comes to mind.

    2020 January 17, Ed Liberatore, “Letter to the editor: Impeachment & misinterpretation of facts”, in The Tribune-Review

    Is some form of Zohnerism (the use of a fact to lead a scientifically and mathematically ignorant public to a false conclusion) at work at the global level with a definite design? My gut feeling is a resounding YES.

    2020 July 12, VK Sinha, “Positive-negative-positive: How reliable are COVID-19 tests?”, in National Herald

    As a member of generation X, I grew up watching Neethi Ravindran and Rini Simon on Doordarshan, when news used to be news and zohnerism hadn't tightened its clasp over Indian media houses, yet.

    2020, Narayana M S, Figuratively Speaking

    Zohnerism is today driving our daily consumption of news and shaping our understanding of most issues

    2021 February 19, Sandeep Goyal, “Zohnerism & the art of selective communication”, in Business Standard

    How frequently are we subject to Zohnerism strategies now. . . it seems as real as DIHYDROGEN MONOXIDE.!!!

    2021, Dr. Debapi Roy, Yori Pabed, page 190

Origin

From Zohner + -ism. In 1997, Nathan Zohner, a 14-year-old student at Eagle Rock Junior High School in Idaho Falls, Idaho, gathered 43 votes (out of 50 ninth-graders surveyed) to ban a chemical that proved to be water. Zohner received the first prize at Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair for analysis of the results of his survey. In recognition of his experiment, journalist James K. Glassman coined the term "Zohnerism" to refer to "the use of a true fact to lead a scientifically and mathematically ignorant public to a false conclusion".

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Zohnerism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Zohnerism

MLA

“Zohnerism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Zohnerism. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Zohnerism,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Zohnerism.

Source: Zohnerism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.