Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
also pseudoscience, "a pretended or mistaken science," 1796 (the earliest reference is to alchemy), from pseudo- + science.\n\nThe term pseudo-science is hybrid, and therefore objectionable. Pseudognosy would be better etymology, but the unlearned might be apt to association with it the idea of a dog's nose, and thus, instead of taking "the eel of science by the tail," take the cur of science by the snout; so that all things considered we had better adopt the current term pseudo-sciences
["The Pseudo-Sciences," in "The St. James Magazine," January 1842]
\nWiktionary
n. (alternative spelling of pseudoscience English)
Usage examples of "pseudo-science".
The discovery of magnetite in human brain cells back in the late twentieth century had bolstered their claims with the kind of pseudo-science backing such people thrived on.
But in parallel to the many scientists who seem reluctant to debate or even publicly discuss pseudo-science, many proponents of mainstream religions are reluctant to take on extreme conservatives and fundamentalists.
She didn't spot anyone that lookedor spokeremotely like an engineer or physicist, but there were plenty to choose from, based on snatches of conversation, if one were interested in delving deeply into the intricacies of post-Terran deconstructionist philosophiesand philologiesin the arts, literature, and what Kafari had always thought of as the pseudo-sciences: astromancy, luminology, sociography.
She didn't spot anyone that looked—or spoke—remotely like an engineer or physicist, but there were plenty to choose from, based on snatches of conversation, if one were interested in delving deeply into the intricacies of post-Terran deconstructionist philosophies—and philologies—in the arts, literature, and what Kafari had always thought of as the pseudo-sciences: astromancy, luminology, sociography.
Meanwhile the Thirty Years War had destroyed the prosperity of central Europe and there was a sudden but very general interest in ``alchemy,'' the strange pseudo-science of the middle-ages by which people hoped to turn base metals into gold.
The discovery of magnetite in human brain cells back in the late twentieth century had bolstered their claims with the kind of pseudo-science backing such people thrived on.
But a few - sometimes, as history has shown, the The continuum stretching from ill-practised science, pseudo-science and superstition (New Age or Old), all the way to respectable mystery religion, based on revelation, is indistinct.