pseudopatient

Syllables: pseu·do·pa·tientUK/ˌs(j)uːdəʊˈpeɪʃ(ə)nt/US/ˌsudoʊˈpeɪʃ(ə)nt/

pseudopatient noun: a person who pretends to be ill, especially to gain some benefit.

Noun

pseudopatient (plural pseudopatients)

(dated) A person who pretends to be ill, especially to gain some benefit.
- [W]e were informed of a Frank physician who had been rewarded for his professional services by the present of a house, valued at five thousand dollars. […] The original proprietor appeared, and was received with great courtesy by the doctor, who prescribed immediately for some chronic disease of...1833, [James Ellsworth De Kay], chapter XXXI, in Sketches of Turkey in 1831 and 1832. By an American, New York, N.Y.: Printed and published by J[ames] & J[ohn] Harper, […], →OCLC, pages 307–308
- On one of the velvet sofas, full in the firelight, lay Federne asprawl. […] Federne started up and roared; caught Sarona by both his hands, and nearly shook his arms off; gave him no time to speak or escape (though Sarona still maintained his cue, and stared roundly upon his pseudo[-]patient), but...1865, Elizabeth Sheppard, “Odyle”, in Counterparts, or The Cross of Love, Boston, Mass.: Published by T. O. H. P. Burnham, […], →OCLC, page 79, column 2
Synonyms:

malingerer
A person who poses as a patient so that research may be conducted or staff trained.
- Most of the pseudopatients were falsely diagnosed with mental disorders.
- It is clear that we cannot distinguish the sane from the insane in psychiatric hospitals. […] I and the other pseudopatients in the psychiatric setting had distinctly negative reactions. We do not pretend to describe the subjective experiences of true patients. Theirs may be different from ours...1973 January 19, D[avid] L. Rosenhan, “On Being Sane in Insane Places”, in Science, volume 179, number 4070, Washington, D.C.: American Association for the Advancement of Science, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC...

Examples of pseudopatient in a sentence

It is clear that we cannot distinguish the sane from the insane in psychiatric hospitals. […] I and the other pseudopatients in the psychiatric setting had distinctly negative reactions.1973 January 19, D[avid] L. Rosenhan, “On Being Sane in Insane Places”, in Science, volume 179, number 4070, Washington, D.C.: American...
Perhaps even more disturbing than the professionals’ failure to discover their pseudopatients’ “sanity,” the psychiatrists interpreted their “normal” behaviors as confirming the initial diagnoses.1997, Nancy Carrick, Lawrence Finsen, “Evaluating Arguments II: Inductive Reasoning”, in The Persuasive Pen: An Integrated Approach to...
Samuel Sarkodie, an M.A. student in medical sociology at the University of Legon in Ghana, spent three days in a rural hospital in 1994 as a pseudopatient with a false case of malaria.2002, H[arvey] Russell Bernard, Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods, 3rd edition, Walnut Creek, Calif....

Synonyms of pseudopatient

malingerer

Forms of pseudopatient

plural	pseudopatients

Origin of pseudopatient

From pseudo- + patient.

Questions about pseudopatient

What does pseudopatient mean?: Pseudopatient means a person who pretends to be ill, especially to gain some benefit.
How do you use pseudopatient in a sentence?: It is clear that we cannot distinguish the sane from the insane in psychiatric hospitals. […] I and the other pseudopatients in the psychiatric setting had distinctly negative reactions.
What part of speech is pseudopatient?: Pseudopatient is a noun.
How do you pronounce pseudopatient?: Pseudopatient is pronounced /ˌs(j)uːdəʊˈpeɪʃ(ə)nt/ (UK).
What is the plural of pseudopatient?: The plural of pseudopatient is pseudopatients.

Words near pseudopatient in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: pseudopatient (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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Cite this entry: “pseudopatient.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pseudopatient. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.