Pseudo- \Pseu"do-\ [Gr. pseydh`s lying, false, akin to psey`dein
   to belie; cf. psydro`s lying, psy`qos a lie.]
   A combining form or prefix signifying false, counterfeit,
   pretended, spurious; as, pseudo-apostle, a false apostle;
   pseudo-clergy, false or spurious clergy; pseudo-episcopacy,
   pseudo-form, pseudo-martyr, pseudo-philosopher. Also used
   adjectively.
   [1913 Webster]

	

	pseudo
     adj : (often used in combination) not genuine but having the
           appearance of; "a pseudo esthete"; "pseudoclassic"
     n : a person who makes deceitful pretenses [syn: imposter, impostor,
          pretender, fake, faker, fraud, sham, shammer,
          pseud, role player]

	

	62 Moby Thesaurus words for "pseudo":
   affected, apocryphal, artificial, assumed, bastard, bogus,
   brummagem, colorable, colored, counterfeit, counterfeited,
   distorted, dressed up, dummy, embellished, embroidered, ersatz,
   factitious, fake, faked, false, falsified, feigned, fictitious,
   fictive, forged, garbled, hokey, illegitimate, imitation, junky,
   make-believe, man-made, mock, perverted, phony, pinchbeck,
   plagiarized, pretended, put-on, quasi, queer, self-styled, sham,
   shoddy, simulated, snide, so-called, soi-disant, spurious,
   supposititious, synthetic, tin, tinsel, titivated, twisted,
   unauthentic, ungenuine, unnatural, unreal, warped, wrong

	

	pseudo /soo'doh/ n. [Usenet: truncation of `pseudonym'] 1. An
   electronic-mail or Usenet persona adopted by a human for amusement
   value or as a means of avoiding negative repercussions of one's
   net.behavior; a `nom de Usenet', often associated with forged postings
   designed to conceal message origins. Perhaps the best-known and funniest
   hoax of this type is B1FF. See also tentacle. 2. Notionally, a
   flamage-generating AI program simulating a Usenet user. Many flamers
   have been accused of actually being such entities, despite the fact that
   no AI program of the required sophistication yet exists. However, in
   1989 there was a famous series of forged postings that used a
   phrase-frequency-based travesty generator to simulate the styles of
   several well-known flamers; it was based on large samples of their back
   postings (compare Dissociated Press). A significant number of people
   were fooled by the forgeries, and the debate over their authenticity was
   settled only when the perpetrator came forward to publicly admit the
   hoax.

	

	pseudo
     
         /soo'doh/ (Usenet) Pseudonym.
     
        1. An electronic-mail or Usenet persona adopted by a human
        for amusement value or as a means of avoiding negative
        repercussions of one's net.behaviour; a "nom de Usenet",
        often associated with forged postings designed to conceal
        message origins.  Perhaps the best-known and funniest hoax of
        this type is BIFF.
     
        2. Notionally, a flamage-generating AI program simulating
        a Usenet user.  Many flamers have been accused of actually
        being such entities, despite the fact that no AI program of
        the required sophistication yet exists.  However, in 1989
        there was a famous series of forged postings that used a
        phrase-frequency-based travesty generator to simulate the
        styles of several well-known flamers; it was based on large
        samples of their back postings (compare Dissociated Press).
        A significant number of people were fooled by the forgeries,
        and the debate over their authenticity was settled only when
        the perpetrator came forward to publicly admit the hoax.
     
        [Jargon File]
     
        (1995-03-13)