pseudoevent

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noun

A happening that is orchestrated for some ulterior purpose.

Scrabble 17
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Meanings

nounpseudoevent (plural pseudoevents)

plural pseudoevents

  1. A happening that is orchestrated for some ulterior purpose.

    Terrorists use violence as a pseudoevent to gain notoriety and legitimacy through media coverage of their acts.

    2005, James A. Johnson, Gerald R. Ledlow, Mark A. Cwiek, Community Preparedness and Response to Terrorism, page 66
    1 more example

    News subsidies thus include making spokespersons available, producing press releases or staging pseudo-events designed to suit the media's production needs and attract the media's attention […]

    2012, C. Holtz-Bacha, J. Strömbäck, Opinion Polls and the Media

Origin

From pseudo- + event.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

pseudoevent. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pseudoevent

MLA

“pseudoevent.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pseudoevent. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pseudoevent,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pseudoevent.

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