-aster, -astering, -asterism, -astery, -astress, -astry
(Latin: something that is inferior, small, or shallow; expressing incomplete resemblance)
criticaster
1. An incompetent or inferior critic.
2. A contemptible or vicious critic.
3. A petty or inferior critic.
hereticaster
A petty or contemptible heretic.
historiaster
A petty or contemptible historian.
Latinitaster
Someone who has but a smattering of Latin while pretending to be qualified in the subject.
logicaster
A petty, incompetent logician.
mathematicaster
1. A minor, petty, or inferior mathematician.
2. Someone pretending to know more about mathematics than is actually true.
medicaster
A medical quack or someone who dispenses false medical advice or treatment; a charlatan.
medicastra
A female medicaster; a pretender to medical skill; a quack, a charlatan.
militaster
A soldier without skill or ability to perform military functions.
musicaster
1. A musician of mediocre capacity.
2. An incompetent or inferior musician.
parasitaster
A mean or sorry parasite.
philologaster, philologastry
1. A petty or contemptible philologist.
2. An incompetent philologist.
3. A dabbler in philology.
4. A petty or blundering philology.
philophaster
1. A shallow philosophical dabbler or poseur (one who assumes an attitude, character, or manner to impress others); a pseudothinker.
2. An amateur or superficial and incompetent philosopher.
3. Someone who pretends to know more than he/she really knows in order to impress others.
philosophaster, philosophunculist
1. A person who pretends to know more about something than he actually knows as a way of impressing or manipulating others.
2. Someone who claims to be a philosopher, but who actually has only superficial knowledge of the subject.
3. A pseudo-philosopher.
Philosophaster is a Latin satirical comedy by Robert Burton. Since the play is about someone who pretends to be a philosopher, the term itself has been used in more recent times to refer to a pretender to knowledge about philosophy.
philosophastering
1. Acting like a philosopher.
2. Philosophizing pretentiously.
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