pseudoneologism

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noun

A word or expression that appears to be a neologism, but is actually either not genuinely new or is a pseudoform derived from existing linguistic elements.

Scrabble 21
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Meanings

nounpseudoneologism (plural pseudoneologisms)

plural pseudoneologisms

  1. human sciencesA word or expression that appears to be a neologism, but is actually either not genuinely new or is a pseudoform derived from existing linguistic elements.
    1 more example

    A veritable lexicon of pseudoneologisms serves as the most subtle currency of this "givenness of the wrong word" in Beckett's prose. Throughout the work, arcane diction such as "dimmen," "strangury," "collapsion," "scrute" abounds. By their juxtaposition with perfectly colloquial idioms, these words present the erroneous appearance of neologism.

    2003, Alan Singer, Aesthetic Reason: Artworks and the Deliberative Ethos, University Park, P.A.: The Pennsylvania State University Press, →ISBN, page 94

Origin

From pseudo- + neologism.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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