pseudo

[From PSEUDO-.]

Similar to; made up to appear like something else. See pseudo compiler, pseudo language and pseudonymous.

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Definition: artificial, fake
Antonyms: genuine, real, true

[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.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a person who makes deceitful pretenses
  Synonyms: imposter, impostor, pretender, fake, faker, fraud, sham, shammer, pseud, role player

The adjective pseudo has one meaning:

Meaning #1: (often used in combination) not genuine but having the appearance of