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pseud(o)-

False; imitative.

Greek pseudēs, false, pseudos, falsehood.

A pseudonym (Greek onoma, name) is a fictitious name, especially one used by an author; pseudoscience is a collection of beliefs or practices mistakenly regarded as being based on scientific method. The form is widely distributed in technical contexts: a pseudopodium (Greek podion, little foot) is a temporary protrusion of the surface of an ameboid cell for movement and feeding; pseudoextinction is the apparent extinction of a group of organisms but in which modified descendant forms survive; a pseudorandom number satisfies some statistical tests for randomness but is produced by a definite mathematical procedure. The form is sometimes used in medicine to describe conditions that mimic others, as in pseudodementia, pseudogout, pseudojaundice, and pseudopregnancy.

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