"protoscience" meaning in English

See protoscience in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: protosciences [plural], proto-science [alternative]
Etymology: From proto- + science. Etymology templates: {{prefix|en|proto|science}} proto- + science Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} protoscience (countable and uncountable, plural protosciences)
  1. An unscientific or pseudoscientific field of study which later becomes or spawns a science (e.g., astrology led to astronomy, alchemy led to chemistry, and, most generally, natural philosophy led to science). Tags: countable, uncountable
    Sense id: en-protoscience-en-noun-VcH1DPxW Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms prefixed with proto-, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 2 entries, Pages with entries, Terms with Ido translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 59 41 Disambiguation of English terms prefixed with proto-: 64 36 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 75 25 Disambiguation of Pages with 2 entries: 60 40 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 59 41 Disambiguation of Terms with Ido translations: 69 31
  2. A field of study at the initial phase of the scientific method, involving information gathering and hypothesis formulation, but is not yet falsifiable, or if it is, its predictions have not yet been observed. Tags: countable, uncountable
    Sense id: en-protoscience-en-noun-us9OJIwv
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: ur-science Related terms: prescience, prescient, prescientific, protoscientific, protoscientist

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proto",
        "3": "science"
      },
      "expansion": "proto- + science",
      "name": "prefix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From proto- + science.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "protosciences",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "proto-science",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "protoscience (countable and uncountable, plural protosciences)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "prescience"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "prescient"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "prescientific"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "protoscientific"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "protoscientist"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "59 41",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "64 36",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms prefixed with proto-",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "75 25",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "60 40",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 2 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "59 41",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "69 31",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Ido translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An unscientific or pseudoscientific field of study which later becomes or spawns a science (e.g., astrology led to astronomy, alchemy led to chemistry, and, most generally, natural philosophy led to science)."
      ],
      "id": "en-protoscience-en-noun-VcH1DPxW",
      "links": [
        [
          "unscientific",
          "unscientific"
        ],
        [
          "pseudoscientific",
          "pseudoscientific"
        ],
        [
          "field of study",
          "field of study"
        ],
        [
          "science",
          "science"
        ],
        [
          "astrology",
          "astrology"
        ],
        [
          "astronomy",
          "astronomy"
        ],
        [
          "alchemy",
          "alchemy"
        ],
        [
          "chemistry",
          "chemistry"
        ],
        [
          "natural philosophy",
          "natural philosophy"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              81,
              94
            ],
            [
              97,
              110
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2008, Donald M. Hassler, Clyde Wilcox, New Boundaries in Political Science Fiction - Page 8:",
          "text": "However, observation alone is not \"modern\" science; simple observation leads to \"proto-science.\" Proto-science accepts observations without question or verification.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A field of study at the initial phase of the scientific method, involving information gathering and hypothesis formulation, but is not yet falsifiable, or if it is, its predictions have not yet been observed."
      ],
      "id": "en-protoscience-en-noun-us9OJIwv",
      "links": [
        [
          "scientific method",
          "scientific method"
        ],
        [
          "information",
          "information"
        ],
        [
          "hypothesis",
          "hypothesis"
        ],
        [
          "falsifiable",
          "falsifiable"
        ],
        [
          "predictions",
          "prediction"
        ],
        [
          "observed",
          "observed"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "ur-science"
    }
  ],
  "word": "protoscience"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms prefixed with proto-",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 2 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Ido translations"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proto",
        "3": "science"
      },
      "expansion": "proto- + science",
      "name": "prefix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From proto- + science.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "protosciences",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "proto-science",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "protoscience (countable and uncountable, plural protosciences)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "prescience"
    },
    {
      "word": "prescient"
    },
    {
      "word": "prescientific"
    },
    {
      "word": "protoscientific"
    },
    {
      "word": "protoscientist"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "An unscientific or pseudoscientific field of study which later becomes or spawns a science (e.g., astrology led to astronomy, alchemy led to chemistry, and, most generally, natural philosophy led to science)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "unscientific",
          "unscientific"
        ],
        [
          "pseudoscientific",
          "pseudoscientific"
        ],
        [
          "field of study",
          "field of study"
        ],
        [
          "science",
          "science"
        ],
        [
          "astrology",
          "astrology"
        ],
        [
          "astronomy",
          "astronomy"
        ],
        [
          "alchemy",
          "alchemy"
        ],
        [
          "chemistry",
          "chemistry"
        ],
        [
          "natural philosophy",
          "natural philosophy"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              81,
              94
            ],
            [
              97,
              110
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2008, Donald M. Hassler, Clyde Wilcox, New Boundaries in Political Science Fiction - Page 8:",
          "text": "However, observation alone is not \"modern\" science; simple observation leads to \"proto-science.\" Proto-science accepts observations without question or verification.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A field of study at the initial phase of the scientific method, involving information gathering and hypothesis formulation, but is not yet falsifiable, or if it is, its predictions have not yet been observed."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "scientific method",
          "scientific method"
        ],
        [
          "information",
          "information"
        ],
        [
          "hypothesis",
          "hypothesis"
        ],
        [
          "falsifiable",
          "falsifiable"
        ],
        [
          "predictions",
          "prediction"
        ],
        [
          "observed",
          "observed"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "ur-science"
    }
  ],
  "word": "protoscience"
}

Download raw JSONL data for protoscience meaning in English (2.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-09-27 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-09-20 using wiktextract (fc15ba6 and 1ab82da). 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.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.