zombie theory
zombie theory noun: a scientific theory that has been disproved, or for which attempts to prove it have failed, but which continues to be presented as a viable theory.
Noun
zombie theory (plural zombie theories)
- A scientific theory that has been disproved, or for which attempts to prove it have failed, but which continues to be presented as a viable theory.
- The best example of a zombie theory is the one-time giant of American sociological theory, structural functionalism.2016, George Ritzer, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Sociology, page 105
- Sometimes, even when the very author of the theory argues that it has reached its threshold, the zombie theory keeps stumbling around as more than a historical reference point.2017, John P. Dugan, Leadership Theory: Cultivating Critical Perspectives, page 140
Forms of zombie theory
| plural | zombie theories |
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Questions about zombie theory
- What does zombie theory mean?
- Zombie theory means a scientific theory that has been disproved, or for which attempts to prove it have failed, but which continues to be presented as a viable theory.
- What part of speech is zombie theory?
- Zombie theory is a noun.
- What is the plural of zombie theory?
- The plural of zombie theory is zombie theories.
Words near zombie theory in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: zombie theory (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.
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Cite this entry: “zombie theory.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/zombie_theory. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.