"junk science" meaning in English

See junk science in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: junk sciences [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} junk science (countable and uncountable, plural junk sciences)
  1. (derogatory) Assertions or methods that have the appearance, but not the actuality, of scientific legitimacy. Tags: countable, derogatory, uncountable Categories (topical): Corruption Related terms: pseudoscience
    Sense id: en-junk_science-en-noun-4T6b1HJU Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "junk sciences",
      "tags": [
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  "head_templates": [
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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          "source": "w"
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          "source": "w"
        },
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        },
        {
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          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Corruption",
          "orig": "en:Corruption",
          "parents": [
            "Crime",
            "Politics",
            "Criminal law",
            "Society",
            "Law",
            "All topics",
            "Justice",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "His testimony was worse than science fiction: it was junk science.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway, chapter 5, in Merchants of Doubt:",
          "text": "Tom Hockaday was an APCO employee, and March 1993 found him working closely with Philip Morris vice president Ellen Merlo to develop scientific articles to defend secondhand smoke and promote the idea that the EPA work was “junk science.”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 June 9, Matthew Taylor, “Climate policy dragged into culture wars as a ‘delay’ tactic, finds study”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "Climate policy is being dragged into the culture wars with misinformation and junk science being spread across the internet by a relatively small group of individuals and groups, according to a study.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Roger W. Shuy, Linguistics in the Courtroom: A Practical Guide, page 99:",
          "text": "Our field falls neither in the category of immediately acceptable DNA experts at one end of the spectrum nor in the category of the immediately unacceptable so-called junk sciences at the other end.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Assertions or methods that have the appearance, but not the actuality, of scientific legitimacy."
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      "id": "en-junk_science-en-noun-4T6b1HJU",
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        "(derogatory) Assertions or methods that have the appearance, but not the actuality, of scientific legitimacy."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "pseudoscience"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
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        "derogatory",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "junk science"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "junk sciences",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
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      "word": "pseudoscience"
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        "English derogatory terms",
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        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English uncountable nouns",
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        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Corruption"
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          "type": "example"
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          "ref": "2010, Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway, chapter 5, in Merchants of Doubt:",
          "text": "Tom Hockaday was an APCO employee, and March 1993 found him working closely with Philip Morris vice president Ellen Merlo to develop scientific articles to defend secondhand smoke and promote the idea that the EPA work was “junk science.”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 June 9, Matthew Taylor, “Climate policy dragged into culture wars as a ‘delay’ tactic, finds study”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "Climate policy is being dragged into the culture wars with misinformation and junk science being spread across the internet by a relatively small group of individuals and groups, according to a study.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Roger W. Shuy, Linguistics in the Courtroom: A Practical Guide, page 99:",
          "text": "Our field falls neither in the category of immediately acceptable DNA experts at one end of the spectrum nor in the category of the immediately unacceptable so-called junk sciences at the other end.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Assertions or methods that have the appearance, but not the actuality, of scientific legitimacy."
      ],
      "links": [
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(derogatory) Assertions or methods that have the appearance, but not the actuality, of scientific legitimacy."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "derogatory",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "junk science"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-18 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-02 using wiktextract (f2d86ce and 633533e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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