Meanings
plural unsciences
- countableuncountableThat which is unscientific or pseudoscientific.
Misapplication of this practical connection leads to such unsciences as astrology and alchemy and, with the Romans, augury.
1973, Janet Lembke, Bronze and Iron1 more example
It has been used in medicine from time immemorial; but until recently its use was nothing more than a species of mere unscience, shadowed in mystery.
1900, John Vosburgh Stevens, editor, The Annual of Eclectic Medicine and Surgery
Origin
- Middle Englishunscience“false knowledge or understanding”
- Englishunscience
From Middle English unscience (“false knowledge or understanding”), equivalent to un- + science.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
unscience. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unscience
“unscience.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unscience. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unscience,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unscience.
Source: unscience on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.