Pseudo-intellectual

An individual who spends more time trying to flex their intellect rather than actually wanting to learn. Pseudo-intellectuals aren't unintelligent or uneducated per se, however the crux of the issue is that they are not as intelligent as they are letting on. For example, to be an intellect on a specific subject, an intellectual would read multiple books or articles then study them in order to retain all the information. A pseudo-intellectual would read one article and label themselves an expert on the subject.

Ways to spot a pseudo-intellectual

1. Plagiarising
2. Quoting
3. Using advanced language to make themselves sound smart, but fails because they use the word incorrectly
4. They use their knowledge as a weapon. For example smart people want to pass on the knowledge they have to other people to inform them on a certain subject. Pseudo-intellectuals on the other hand seek to impress and show off, so put others down to increase their feelings of superiority and lower the self worth of others for their own personal gain
5. They like to start arguments whether it is on politics, philosophy, religion or science, but it ends up backfiring on them due to only retaining snippets of information on these topics, but not the full story, whereas their opponent has been pre-educated before the debate and read multiples books and sources on the topic throughly, thus absolutely thrashing the pseudo-intellectual in a debate. Ultimately never begin a debate on something you know nothing about because people will get the impression thag you're just desperate to flex your knowledge when there probably isn't much of it.